Voidwalker
by Sakurada Kiritsugu
Summary: "When thou gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into thee." That was exactly how Louise felt when she turned her eyes upon the familiar she just summoned. This was no knight in shining armor... This was a monster. Brimir's balls, he's really tall.
1. Chapter 1

**Yep, read it and weep. A Dark Souls crossover with Zero No Tsukaima. **

**Now, before people start shooting questions, lemme make something clear about my priorities. I know it has been an insanely long while since I last updated Fate/DEUS. Personally, I am irritated with myself. But I just can't find the muse to write anymore chapters. I have NO intention whatsoever of abandoning, hell will have to freeze over and give me frostbite in the ass before I do that. I will update whenever I find it in me to write about it. So until then, this story is a distraction. An idea I need to get out of my head and in to my laptop. **

**Just something you should know, one of the reasons I can't seem to type anymore chapters of my Fate fic is because my mind decided to suddenly decide on the storyline for the sequel. I am being distracted by a sequel that has yet to come into existence. I try to just forget about it but the plot of the sequel is so damn irresistible that I can't seem to type anymore. For Gwyn's sake, I've already chosen the damn servants! So until I can figure out how to sort out the files in my head, no update for Fate/DEUS. Sorry. **

**And no, you cannot get a sneak peak of the servants or plot line.**

**…Unless you can accomplish a challenge which I will issue at the end of this chapter (DON'T YOU DARE SKIP TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE JUST TO SEE THE CHALLENGE), but be fast since I will only give the sneak peak of the servants to the first three people to complete the challenge.**

**I actually hope nobody does the challenge but oh well. I kind of want to hear some opinions because it might help me update Fate/DEUS faster. Might.**

**On a completely off topic note, I have begun to swear in the name of gods from games and animes, a few examples being Brimir (Zero No Tsukaima), Gwyn (Dark Souls) and Andraste (Dragon Age).**

**I mean come on, the phrases you can use with those three!**

**"Brimir's balls!"**

**"Gwyn's flaming beard!"**

**"Andraste's tits!"**

**You get the point. **

**Righty, enough procrastinating, let's get to the story. For this fic, everybody's favorite Warrior of Sunlight is gonna do the disclaimer. That's right, give it up for Solaire of Astora!**

**Solaire: Good day to you all and may the sun shine brightly on your kind souls!**

**Me: Hit it, mister incandescent!**

**Solaire: Sir Sakurada does not own anything in relation to Dark Souls or ZNT (You know what that stands for.) and is in no way affiliated with the producers or owners. He plays the game, he reads the light novel, that's about it. Please enjoy the debut chapter of Voidwalker! Praise the SUN!**

**Me: I second that!**

**Opening theme: Welcome to the Vanity Faire – Alesana**

**Ending theme: Satellite/Stealing Time – Above & Beyond**

**Chapter 1: The wolf who cried man**

**It was dark, it hurt, it burns, it stings, its dark, dark, darkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkdarkpainsorrowlonelinessmonsterscreamshadowseyesfailurefriendsdeathdeathdeathdeathdeaddeaddeaddeaddeadDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE-**

In a ruined coliseum, two warriors stood. These two were locked in an epic battle of life or death.

The first figure was the one known to the land of Lordran as 'The Chosen Undead', the one who will replace the dying god of sunlight Gwyn and light the kiln of the first flame. He wore an unusual set of armor. A crystalline helmet he salvaged from Seath the scale-less' tower, the armor of thorns he took from the corpse of the knight of thorns known as Kirk, the gauntlets of the dragon smashing Havel the rock and the lower robes of a six-eyed channeler.

In his right hand he held a dark wraith's sword which was wreathed in lightning, courtesy of the miracle Sunlight Blade, and he held Havel's greatshield in his left hand.

Held, by which I mean he lodged in the ground in front of him as he panted for breath. This was the most exhausting fight he has ever faced and he has faced LOTS of battles. He's killed wyverns, a giant white dragon, giants, golems of stone and crystal varieties and a bloody Hydra.

And yet, this one enemy seemed to make those others small in comparison.

A knight stood (or technically hunched) several meters in front of him. The man wielded a greatsword in his right hand, the left arm being completely limp and useless (unless he wishes to toss toxic abyss sludge at you.).

His armor was faded and scratched silver and his helmet was a mixture of a hood and… well, a helmet. The remains of a dark blue scarf was draped around his neck and down his back.

His name was Artorias, one of the four knights of Gwyn, his title being Abysswalker due to the fact that was exactly what he could do. Traverse the abyss, a useful ability he gained from entering a covenant with the father of the abyss, Manus the primeval man.

If you could call a many eyed giant shaman monkey thing a man.

The Chosen Undead huffed as he dropped his greatshield and produced a chaos fireball in his palm. This battle has gone on for too long and he was out of options. If he was going to be killed by one of his idols (the other knights of Gwyn are also on the list of people he idolizes, aside from cinder beard himself.) then he might as well go out with a bang.

He'd just come back and have a rematch anyway. Ah the glories of being undead.

"If I'm going down, I'm draggin you down to Izalith with me!" He roared out his battle cry before charging towards Artorias, his dark sword held behind him.

The corrupted knight howled his own battle cry in response and leaped into the air, his greatsword held above him as he prepared to bisect the undead warrior. The Chosen Undead skidded to a halt and threw the chaos fireball, fast ball special style. The distance between the ball of flame and the abyssal knight became nonexistent as they both collided and became engulfed in a fiery explosion.

"Yes, got hi-what in Izalith!?" The undead soldier exclaimed as he saw the explosion actually get sucked away, like a vacuum was sucking it up. In less than a few seconds, the explosion was gone, Artorias gone with it.

"…Did he…. Die?" The Chosen Undead asked no one in particular. He knew it was impossible. If Artorias died, he should have at least left his soul behind. Yet there was nothing there. It was as if there was never a battle at all, the proof saying otherwise being the scratched and scorched floors.

'Where did he go?' He mentally asks himself as he looks around in case Artorias used some fancy teleportation technique. It was possible that the dark knight used some sort of miracle to escape and contain the explosion.

It would explain the green light he saw appear between the knight and the fireball, mere seconds before they collided.

**#summoning grounds, Tristain academy of magic, Halkeginia#**

If anybody asked Louise what her least favorite season was be, it would be spring. The reason is obvious.

It was the Springtime Familiar Summoning. This was the special day where the second year students were allowed to summon their own familiar. Familiars usually came in the form of animals, though if you have enough skill you could end up summoning a powerful creature like a dragon or a griffin.

"Alright, has everybody already summoned their familiars?" Professor Colbert, a bald and middle aged teacher, asks to all of the students present in the field.

Suddenly, Louise wished she was smaller than she was (and that is pretty small) so that she could just quietly sneak away without being-

"Sir, Louise still hasn't gone yet!" Kirche, a voluptuous red haired and tanned skinned girl declares loudly as her eyes lock on to the retreating pinkette's form.

'Damn it.' Louise swore in her mind as she turned around rigidly. A number of groans echo throughout the crowd of students.

"Really, the Zero?"

"She'll just make another explosion anyway."

"Maybe she'll summon a bomb."

The indirect insults continue as Colbert smiles at Louise. "Ah yes, miss Valliere, please step forward and begin your summons."

Louise wearily approached the small section where a summoning circle was drawn and sighs. 'Here it goes. My chance to prove them wrong.' She thinks as her resolve is steeled. Her right hand is raised in front of her, a wand being held tightly.

_"Hear me, oh powerful familiar…."_ She starts to chant. Amongst the crowd, the blue haired Tabitha raises her head from her book to look at Louise.

"Different chant." She says in a blank tone to Kirche as they watch to see what happens.

_"Oh being of glory and strength…." _

"Hmph, her summon is definitely going to fail if she changes the chant." The blonde haired Montmorency huffs out with a scowl. The boy sitting next to her, Guiche, shakes his head as he waves his rose shaped wand in an elegant manner.

"Such a pity, and she seems to be putting so much effort in it."

**_"I command you to appear before me…."_** Suddenly Louise's voice seems to develop a small echo as her figure glows slightly and her hair starts to wave around.

"Oi oi, seriously?" Kirche asks in shock as the air turns a bit heavy and wind starts to pick up.

**_"If you can hear my voice, my plead, my call…."_**

"Oh Founder, hit the deck!" Kirche shouts as all the students and their familiars try to find cover, just as Louise finishes the spell.

**_"Then as your new master, I command you, COME TO ME!"_**

The air was still for a moment until an extremely large explosion erupted from the summoning circle. Dark red flames scorched the ground in front of Louise as she gets flung back a bit by the force of the blast. Even professor Colbert seems to have trouble just staying in place.

Finally, the explosion dies away, leaving a smoking crater. Slowly the students peer at the smoke and then at Louise before bursting in laughter.

"Just like usual, an explosion!"

"Watch it Zero! That could have killed us!"

"Louise the Zero strikes again!"

The students laugh and jeer as Louise just sits there limply on the ground. Her eyes begin to tear up as she clutches her sides. The bald professor gives her a pitying look and moves to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

*SMASH*

Until the crater erupts into a bigger cloud of dust and smoke as something smacks into it. The students watch nervously as something begins to move in the smoke. There was a clanking sound, like metal. Colbert uses a small wind spell to blow away the dust and smoke.

And comes face to face with a knight of death.

This knight was covered in ruined armor, silver in color with a tattered dark blue scarf around the neck. Its helmet was in the shape of a hood with an armored top in the shape that is similar to an eagle's head, a black horsetail coming out from the back of the helm. A huge sword was stabbed into the ground, a black substance covering some parts of the badly damaged blade. The knight's left arm hung limply at his side, the same black substance dripping from the cracks of the armor around it.

Oh, and the knight was tall. Very tall. He would have stood at least 2 to 3 meters in height, if he wasn't hunched over and leaning on his weapon for support.

"O-oi, the Zero summoned a knight?"

"And she practically injured him through summoning him!"

"That armor doesn't look Tristainian…"

"Nice job Zero, you practically killed a knight!"

Louise ignores all the students. Her eyes were locked on to the being in the crater. Something about it stirred a very primal sense of fear in her. Every single part of her mind was shrieking at her to run.

Suddenly the knight begins to stand up straighter and pulls his sword out of the ground. As soon as the tip of the blade has left the dirt, he releases a blood curdling howl, one akin to the sound of a wolf. Colbert reacts quickly as the knight leaps out of the hole and towards him and Louise. The middle aged teacher grabs the pink haired student and quickly jumps to the side as the greatsword smashes into the ground where he once stood. Colbert raises his staff with his right hand and launches a fireball towards the knight, only for it to be battered away by its limp left arm.

"Miss Valliere, please control your familiar!" Colbert shouts to the student he's carrying.

"H-how the hell am I supposed to control THAT!?" Louise shouts in terror. Colbert prepares to release a wave of flames as the students begin to evacuate the field.

"Seal the contract!" He shouts before smacking his staff into the ground, a torrent of inferno erupting from the staff and rushes towards the injured knight.

Response? Another Olympic leap into the air.

"Argh, my name is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere, pentagon of the five elemental powers, bless this crazy knight and make him my familiar!" Louise shouts as she aims her wand at the mid-air knight.

Suddenly, the armored familiar stops in mid-air abruptly and gets thrown back to where it leaped from. As it crashes down, the black substance seems to turn into a more gaseous form and seeps from his armor, swirling around him. The corruption seems to leak right out of his armor and off his weapon as it swirls in mid-air and starts to enter his limp left hand. Slowly the arm starts to flap about uselessly until slowly the boneless flapping becomes painful jerks, the cracking of bones being audible in the field as the arm regenerates. As the last of the dark substance enters the left hand, bright blue glowing runes are left imprinted on the armor of the gauntlet.

The field is enveloped in silence as Louise gasps for breath and she promptly passes out. Professor Colbert scoops up the unconscious girl in his arms as he approaches the downed knight and turns his gaze upon the knight's left hand.

'Such strange runes…. What a peculiar familiar…'

"Somebody send for water mages, this man needs immediate medical attention!" Colbert shouts at the students that still lingered around. As the students scattered, Colbert looks at the knight again.

"What on earth are you?"

**_#THE ABYSS#_**

Gone. His new pawn was gone. One moment he was there and then suddenly he was just gone. He wasn't even dead. He just vanished into thin air.

Manus lumbers around the pit that he calls his "Home" and starts to spread out his mind, his consciousness that echoes throughout the abyss.

Suddenly, a part of the abyss was ripped away. Something ripped a part of the raw power of the abyss and made it vanish in the same way Artorias did.

Did this mean something was aloof in his territory?

"Thiiiiiiiiissss-"

Maybe some of the foolish Oolacile sorcerors survived and decided to steal a piece of Manus' power.

"-Iiiiiiisssssss-"

Manus suddenly jerks its head up as something seems to fall from above.

"LORDRAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!"

And he was greeted to the sight of a lightning coated dark sword piercing his shoulder.

Manus howls in anger as he grabs the Chosen Undead with his left arm and throws him as far as possible. The undead soldier rolls across the floor and does an impressive flip and stands up again, albeit a bit wobbly.

"Whew, that was fun. Hi there big guy, we're here to avenge Artorias."

Manus' eyes narrow at the undead. He had the gall of invading the very ruler of the abyss and actually-wait did he say 'we'?

His answer was found in the form of a rather large arrow piercing his backside, where the sun don't shine.

He turns around swiftly and finds another of Gwyn's four knights. Hawkeye Gough.

A sudden intense pain fills his right arm that clutches his large staff, just before he was about to bull charge the large man. He turns his head and sees yet another of the four knights, Lord's Blade Ciaran.

And a series of intensely painful scratches spread on his back as another attacker appears. Swinging his arm around violently, Manus watches the attacker leap of his back and bound away until it was a good distance from the monster.

It was Sif, Artorias' pet wolf.

"You see, I found these three and offered them a proposal. One that involves your imminently painful demise." The Chosen Undead clarifies as he lights a chaos fireball in his left hand.

Manus looks around and realizes that they have surrounded him from all corners. He can't move easily now. Gough would shoot him if he moved, Ciaran can dive in with Sif for rapid hit and runs and the Chosen Undead…. Well, he's the Chosen Undead. What can't he do?

For the first time in a millennia, Manus had a single sentient thought.

'Fuck.'

**Whew, that was good exercise for my fingers.**

**Right, I hope I can post a few good chapters of this story until I get the moxie to continue updating Fate/DEUS.**

**Now then, I have a few more things to say. Like, no flames, please review/comment, cuz that is one of any fan fic writers greatest morality boosts. **

**Now then, the challenge to get the sneak preview of the servants and some plot spoilers of the Fate/DEUS sequel (which has yet to exist as I haven't even finished the prequel.) but I can omit the plot spoilers if you wish.**

**Rules: Answer the questions in the challenge correctly through PM to me. All answers to the questions must be put in one PM, along with numbers to show which answer is for which question.**

**Only the first three people to answer correctly can get the preview.**

**These questions are related to my fics. All of them. Answers can be found with the help of uncle Google and by looking at my fics.**

**I would truly be surprised if anybody actually did this challenge.**

**Questions:**

**1. Write the lyrics of the ending song of this fic that relate to Ciaran and Artorias' situation in this fic?**

**2. Why is Gilgamesh in Babylon No Tsukaima much mellower than his usual self?**

**3. How is Uryu's black blood connected to Chrona's? Other than the fact that Medusa gave it to them. (HINT: Norway)  
**

**4. Name the badass mofo who wields a greatsword and flips iron golems in Dark Souls.  
**

**5. Which Type-Moon character resembles Artorias of The Abyss?**

**6. When training archery with Genghis Khan, Waver accidentally hit:**

**A. Death's face  
**

**B. The apple**

**C. A squirrel**

**D. A passing Kayneth**

**7. In Dark Souls, Dragonslayer Ornstein's name is a reference to what?**

**8. Crossbreed Priscilla is theorized to be the daughter of whom?**

**9. The difference between Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works and Archer's.**

**10. Final question: If only I could be so _ _.**

**Yeah….. Good luck with that. Remember, only 3 people. I won't send a PM saying sorry but you didn't win. I'll just put a notice on my profile on who won.**

**EDIT:Alrighty, changed question number 4 because obviously unless you read my rants in one of the chapters of Fate/DEUS then you won't know the answer.**

**Good luck! **

**This is Sakurada Kiritsugu, praise the SUN!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello people! Here is the second chapter of Voidwalker! **

**I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed about the lack of reviews. Maybe it's what I get for not updating my stories fast enough?**

**Anyhow, Artorias in this fic is going to be much different from how he is portrayed in Dark Souls. Not personality wise (Okay, maybe a teensy bit) but ability wise. He was already crazy strong in DS, add Gandalfr powers to the mix and you have one hell of a knight. Plus, in case you didn't catch the hint, the Gandalfr contract literally ripped a large chunk of the abyss and Manus's power out and grafted it into the familiar runes. What changes they will give to Artorias will be seen as the story goes on but hopefully they won't be far-fetched.**

**Well, I've said my piece. Solaire, if you will?**

**Solaire: Gladly. Sakurada does not own Dark Souls and ZNT, nor is he in anyway affiliated with the producers and etcetera. Please enjoy the second chapter of Voidwalker, praise the sun!**

**Chapter 2: Questioning fate**

**Blackevilcolordarkevilsadnesssolitudepainhungerendlessnightmares.**

**…light? **

**LightbrightsearingpainarmrunesfamiliarflamesabysslostCiara-**

A sudden jolt of pain through his head causes him to sit up suddenly. His entire body ached and there was a dull sensation in his left arm….. Wait, his left LIMP arm?

The knight slowly raises his regenerated arm up and starts to test it out by clenching his fist and flexing his fingers. There was no illusion there, his arm has returned from being completely melted off by Manus's dark arm.

Manus. Father of the abyss.

The name rings in his head with a sudden wave of nausea and anger. He had failed. He had been defeated by the abyss monster and was…..

And was what? For some reason, he could not remember what happened after that. Only pain. And anger.

**And darkness.**

He was in a small room, the roof low enough to bump his head if he stood up straight. It was in the afternoon outside, the sky painted an orange color.

The knight shifts his body, his muscles screaming in protest as he moves out from under the sheet of the bed he was lay in. the bed was built for ordinary humans and not for people of his height, so his legs hung right off the end. Somebody had draped a blanket over his legs and placed a cushion under his feet to prevent discomfort.

He was still in his armor, though it was a bit disheveled, indicating that someone tried to remove it while he was unconscious. However, whatever straps held them in place seemed to prove too difficult to remove, as they were made to not only keep the armor on so tight that even a hurricane couldn't rip it off, but also to be loose enough so that the body would be allowed the freedom it required to move in battle (I'm just pulling these theories out of my ass).

His helmet/hood was pulled down though, revealing his messy and longish black hair and his sky blue eyes. He looked in a mirror which sat in a corner of the small room and saw that he had dark rings under his eyes. He lacked sleep. Whatever happened to him after being beaten by Manus had left him wide awake for days.

Maybe even weeks. How long ago was that anyway?

"-an assure you that he is quite stable. Though we could not remove his armor, the nurse being a rather skillful water mage has healed his life threatening wounds by letting the healing water seep into his armor. Now all we need to do is wait until he-

The voice draws closer and a bald middle aged man walks into the room, flanked by an old man with an extremely long beard that would make Gwyn jealous and a young girl with pink hair.

The knight's icy blue eyes focus on the girl's. Something about her seemed…. Something. He couldn't place it.

"A-ah, you have awakened! I trust that you slept well?"

As the knight attempted to respond, intense pain suddenly wrecked through his throat and he begins to cough. His right hand flies to grip his own throat in pain as the trio's eyes widen. Soon, the coughing dies down but a small amount of blood is seen on the floor and trailing from the injured knight's mouth.

"P-please do not strain yourself, your injuries were quite severe from the summoning but we had no idea that your throat was damaged as well! Miss Valliere, please call for the nurse so we may begin healing your familiar's throat."

Summoning? Familiar? What on earth was this man talking about?

The pink haired girl nods with a worried expression and runs back out the door. The old man with the long beard steps forward as soon as she left.

"Now then, I wish to ask you some questions and if you wish to say yes or no, just nod or shake your head, okay?"

The knight nods slowly as he wonders where he is.

"Do you remember anything from yesterday?"

A shake of the head.

"Do you know how you got injured?"

A slow nod.

"Well then…. Do you know where you are?"

Once again, he shakes his head.

"Hmm, this is most troubling. If Miss Valliere summoned a knight from another country then we could have some problems on our hand." The old man says with a grim tone as he strokes his magnificent facial hair.

"But where does he come from? I know not of any countries with men as tall as him." The bald man says as he takes on a worried expression.

"Perhaps we can ask him. Tell me, are you from Tristain?"

The knight cocks his head slightly in a confused manner before shaking it.

"Then, Albion?"

Another shake.

"Perhaps Germania? Or even Gallia?"

The knight shakes his head, confusion evident on his face. Suddenly, the knight opens his mouth slowly.

"..ran…"

"Pardon?"

The knight coughs a bit before opening his mouth again.

"Lor…dran…"

The two men look at each other in confusion. Where on earth is Lordran?

Before they can question him any further, the pink haired girl who was called by the name Valliere came back with a middle aged woman wearing robes that looked like a mixture of a nun's robe and a nurse's. She was carrying a bottle filled with a clear liquid that must have been water.

"Alright, just sit still and let me do the work. This won't take long. Now, if you would please open your mouth as wide as you can, I am going to pour some of my healing water down your throat. Try not to gag." The woman says as she pulls out a wand and the water starts to leave the bottle and float in mid-air. The knight's eyes widen and he backs away slowly at the sight. He had never heard of a miracle such as this.

The bald man looks at the knight with a confused face. "Why are you so shocked? It's only a bit of water magic. Nothing special about it. Just sit still and let the nurse do her job."

The knight wearily looks at the bald man and then at the floating water before sighing and sitting still on the bed, which creaks under his weight. The water starts to trail towards him and slowly pour itself down his throat.

A light burning sensation starts to spread in his throat before it gets replaced by a soothing cool sensation. Slowly, the pain in his throat fades away and the water enters his stomach.

"There we go, now just wait for at least an hour for your throat to get used to the magic and you'll be good as new. Now if you excuse me, I need to be elsewhere, some stupid student still needs me to heal his broken nose after being hit by Miss Tabitha's dragon's tail."

The nurse walks out, completely unaware of the absolutely shocked expression that the knight gave. The other occupants of the room noticed it though.

"Is something the matter?" The bald man asks with a note of concern. The knight simply stares at him with a confounded expression before he tries to croak out the words.

"Dra…gon…still….live..?"

"What? Of course they do! Albeit most are used for military purposes but some are quite common!"

The knight's expression became honestly confused at this. Dragons used for military purposes? How on earth could they have even tamed the beasts!?

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself! How rude of me! I am Professor Jean Colbert and this man here is Headmaster Osmond. This is Tristain's magic academy. And this young girl here is Miss Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere."

…magic academy!?

Thoroughly confused the knight simply leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes as he massaged his forehead with his right hand. All of this was too confusing and he would have to wait an hour before he could speak again.

"Ah, you must be tired. Very well, I and Colbert will just leave as we have a few things to attend to. Miss Valliere, if you would please just stay here with your familiar, since today is the day of the void, you do not need to worry about missing any classes." The old man known as Osmond said cheerfully as he ushered Colbert out of the room and closed the door.

…..

Awkward silence ensued the room as neither of the two occupants could think of a way to say….. Anything.

"W-well, it is a pleasure to meet you familiar. I am Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere and I am your new master." The pink haired girl said nervously, though there was a hint of pride in her voice.

But seriously, what in Izalith is a familiar?

The knight simply sat there and looked out the window. His eyes widen as he sees children wearing the same uniform as Louise, playing around, sitting, walking and talking with each other.

All the while being accompanied by an animal or odd creature.

There was a boy playing around with a small dog, a girl was speaking to her frog, another boy was hugging what seemed to be a giant mole and GOOD LORD IS THAT CHLD HUGGING A BEAR!?

The knight looked at the students with some awe in his eyes. He had never seen anything quite like this. Louise, who walked over to the window to look as well, noticed his awed expression.

"What? It's just the other students and their familiars. Nothing special about it."

Those animals were familiars? Then what those that make him?

He continued to look at the students with curiosity.

And then came the dragon.

It was rather small compared to the dragons he was used to and it had the coloration of an ordinary wyvern, but it was a dragon all the same.

The knight was prepared to jump out the window and attack it, until he realized two important things.

One: he was unarmed.

Two: there was a student riding upon the dragon.

A blue haired girl with glasses sat upon the dragon, a book in her hand. Her eyes met the knights momentarily before the dragon flew off elsewhere.

Louise stared at the knight's slack jawed expression.

'What's wrong with him? It's like he's never seen a dragon in his life!'

Oh you don't know how wrong you are Louise.

**#an hour or two later#**

Louise sat there with her familiar in silence. He didn't do much other than look at the students or close his eyes and rub his temples as if he got a headache. She wanted to say something too but she felt that it was a bit awkward to have a one sided conversation with a knight.

"…Where in Izalith am I?"

Upon hearing the calm voice, Louise's head snapped towards the knight who was staring at the sky. It was already night. The two moons were out and they were what the knight's eyes were locked upon.

"What do you mean where are you?"

The knight shakes his head and his hands tremble a bit.

"There aren't two moons. Only one and it certainly is not that color. The dragons should be dead, only Seath the scaleless is alive. Why can humans do magic? This shouldn't be possible!" The knight says in disbelief.

"What? There have always been two moons in Halkeginia! And what do you mean the dragons should be dead? Who's Seath the scaleless?" Now it was Louise who was confused. Realizing that he was starting to panic, the knight took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He turns his head to Louise and her heart skips a beat for a second when her eyes lock with his icy blue ones.

"You said this land was called Halkeginia, correct?"

She nods her head.

"I come from a land known as Lordran."

"Lordran? I've never heard of such a place."

"From how this place looks, Lordran probably does not exist here. Either I am in the future or I am in an alternate world… Yes, that must be it."

"An alternate world? How is that even possible?" The pinkette asks incredulously. The ice eyed knight only shakes his head and closes his eyes slowly.

"I do not know but it is the only reasonable answer I can come up with… there are too many things that are different in this world…"

His eyes open again and they meet Louise's.

"I have a query to make."

"A-ah, go ahead."

"First, what is a familiar?"

Louise just gapes at that. "What do you mean what is a fam- you know what, never mind. I'm not even going to ask." She sighs and straightens her posture. Suddenly the knight feels that this was going to be a long explanation.

"So basically, a familiar is a guardian that a mage summons to protect and serve them. It does things like gathering reagents, assisting their masters with small chores and it protects them from peril. Familiars can come in different forms, from cats, dogs and bears to creatures like dragons, griffins and even a manticore."

The knight nodded, although a bit confused with some of the terms such as reagents and manticores. What on earth is a manticore?

"A mage's strength can be gauged by their familiar, so if a mage summons a dragon then they could be incredibly strong. And I got…. You."

The knight blinks slowly in confusion. "What's so bad about me?"

"Well you're…. strange. At first I thought you were a human but…." She trails off and looks away. The knight's face adopts a worried expression.

"…What did I do when you summoned me?"

"You really can't remember?"

"Not a thing."

Louise bites her lip a bit before turning her head towards him and explains what happened. The explosion, the attack and the darkness that fixed his left arm.

The knight was silent as he digested this information. So he had gone insane. Just perfect.

"….You're not human, are you?" Louise asks slowly. The knight looks at her and shakes his head.

"Not exactly. I'm descended from a race of primordial man. I'm perfectly human, I just have more strength, I live longer and I'm much taller than most."

"Guah, there are more tall people like you?"

"Oh yes and I'm not even the tallest." The knight stifles a chuckle at Louise's expression. Her brow was furrowed, her eyes half lidded and her mouth was open slightly in a 'Wait, seriously?' expression.

"Though not all of us grow to be that tall. I knew someone who was like us but she only grew to be the size of an ordinary human. She got irritated every time we reminded her of that."

"Somehow, I can relate to that." Louise says, remembering the times other people call her short.

Well, she IS really short but that doesn't mean they should remind her about it.

The knight chuckles slightly before smiling. "Well, I appear to be in debt to you. Since you have saved my life, I shall return the favor and protect yours."

"E-eh? What do you mean?"

"Before you summoned me, I was in a life or death situation. The darkness of the abyss was polluting me and killing me slowly. If you hadn't summoned me, I would have fallen to the abyss' power and become more of a monster than the one you saw. By making me your familiar, you saved my life and the lives of others who would have eventually fallen to my blade. I am in your debt."

With this, the knight lowers his head and places his right arm over his chest as a sign of respect and acknowledgement. Louise blushes in embarrassment and stutters around a bit.

Well, what girl wouldn't blush over a handsome knight saying that they are in the girl's debt? It's practically every little girl's fantasy.

'Y-y-your welcome! I am honored to have you as my familiar, sir…. Uhm…"

The knight lifts his head and smiles.

"Artorias. My name is Artorias."

Louise smiles and was about to ask more questions until a sudden knock at the door interrupts her.

"Come in." Artorias said loudly. Opening the door, Colbert and Osmond walk in and stand near the master and familiar.

"So, your voice has recovered? How are you feeling?" The bald professor asks with a kind smile. Artorias returns the smile with his own as he answers.

"I feel much better now that I have rested. Your nurse's healing water has helped greatly. Should I get the chance, I must thank her."

"Well you have plenty of time. Being a familiar is a lifetime occupation anyway." Osmond says with a hearty chuckle. A sudden distant look washes over Artorias' face as he turns his head towards the window.

"Lifetime huh?"

"Is something the matter?" Osmond asks to the tall knight. Artorias simply shakes his head and smiles again.

"I was just thinking about my friends. I am sure they will miss me as I will miss them. But I am a knight and knights adapt. I am sure they will be fine, seeing as my curse has been lifted."

Curious, Professor Colbert pulls up a chair and sits down in front of Artorias. "Can you tell me the nature and origin of this curse? Even if it is gone, I am still curious to what kind of demonic magic is capable of causing such a curse to befall upon a knight such as yourself."

Louise nods in agreement and sits on the bed with Artorias with a face not unlike a child's during story time. Osmond simply runs a hand through his fabulous facial hair and pulls up another chair.

This might be a long night.

"Very well, I see no harm in it. In the land where I come from, Lordran, there is a city called Oolacile. It was a city of humans that practice the sorcery of light manipulation to cast illusions and such. One day, they unearthed a chasm known as the abyss. This abyss was another realm that was filled with all sorts of nightmares that you would expect to see in your nightmares. The abyss was poisonous towards humans and it corrupted the citizens of Oolacile and turned them into abominations."

Louise gasped and Colbert's eyes widened in shock. Osmond showed no reaction whatsoever, other than the slight narrowing of his eyes. "Every last one of the citizens were turned into monsters?"

"All but one. Dusk, the princess of Oolacile was still human as she was gifted with the light sorcery. However, she was captured by the same thing that gave me my curse."

"W-what was it?" Louise asks with a dread filled expression.

Artorias' eyes narrow and for a split second, his face adopted a feral expression of rage. "Manus. He was the monster that ruled over the abyss. Nobody knows where he came from or what he even is. All I know is that he is a monster. And a very intelligent monster too, despite his appearance that resembles a demented monkey. He captured the princess and held her hostage in the abyss."

Now Osmond was getting very interested in the story. This Manus was obviously a very powerful creature, possibly more dreadful that an adult dragon. "Held her hostage? What was the ransom?"

"Me."

All the occupants of the room gave confused and shocked expressions at the knight's reply.

"Oolacile was a mere stepping stone. He wanted me. Particularly my soul."

"Why? Were you a very famous warrior and he saw you as a threat?" Colbert asked with curiosity. Artorias chuckled slightly and folded his arms.

"Well, I was a quite famous being one of the four personal knights of Gwyn."

"Who is this 'Gwyn'? A king in your land?" Osmond asked as he straightened his beard.

"The greatest. But that will be explained at another time. No, he did not see me as a threat. He merely wanted to keep the end of the bargain."

"What bargain?" Louise asked as she slowly started scooting closer to the knight like how a child would scoot closer to their parent during story time.

Hey, she may be 16 but she can still enjoy a good story. I mean, Siesta does.

…On second thought, scratch Siesta out of there, her stories are not the kind I was trying to make an example out of.

Artorias was silent before opening his left palm and looking at his fingers. "Huh, so the ring really is gone?"

"Ring? What ring? Are you telling me all he wanted was a ring?" Colbert asks the blue scarfed knight. Artorias shakes his head and leans back against the wall.

"Back in Lordran, I was known by a certain title. Abysswalker. Because I was able to traverse the abyss safely. That ring was the reason I could do that."

"So Manus thought that you were abusing his realm with that ring and he decided to take it and curse you?"

"Not exactly… It was Manus himself who gave me the ring."

Silence fell upon the room. Louise, Colbert and even Osmond's eyes were wide with shock and surprise. Noticing their expressions, Artorias began to speak again.

"It started during a rainy day in the city of Anor Londo…."

_Heavy rain fell upon the city of sunlight as Artorias walked, in full armor and his helmet/hood covering his face, towards the gate. On his back was his great-sword, in its sharp and silver glory. He left Sif at home as the poor wolf disliked the rain. It was strange, as cats were usually the ones who were afraid of water._

_(Elsewhere, the cat of the Forest Hunter covenant basks in the heavy rain with a content sigh.)_

_Artorias was nearing the gate, a giant steel gate that could be raised by the pull of a lever. A pair of giant sentinels stood guard, shielded by the rain as they stood under the small ceilings that were built for these purposes._

_Leave a man in armor in the rain and he will get crotch-rot (look it up. Nasty stuff my mum told me about.)._

_"Hnn? Ah, Sir Artorias. Off to somewhere in this rain? You're lucky you have such light armor to be walking around in the rain like that. If it were me or Sodom here, we would be sogging hunks of metal lumbering like golems." The sentinel on the left said with a hearty laugh. The one on the right seemed to shake his head slowly at the antics of his brother._

_"I'm just going for a bit of hunting Gomorrah, I should be back by nightfall." Artorias said as he walked towards the gate. Gomorrah smiles (though nobody could tell) and nods. _

_"Ah, good old hunting in the rain. There ne'er be a better sport than that. Sodom, be a good lad and lift the gate for the good night, will you?"_

_"Hurm." The giant on the left grunts as he lumbers into a room and pulls the lever. The chains start to pull the metal gate up and Artorias walks under it._

_'I'm always worried that one day, that gate is going to fall on somebody as they walk under it.' The knight notes mentally as his greaves start to tread in the muddy ground._

_"Try not to take too long, you wouldn't want Mistress Ciaran to get all worked up about where you are!" Gomorrah yells over his shoulder as he resumes his post. Sodom vocalizes his agreement on that statement by nodding and making another "Hurm." sound._

_'No problem with that, since she's what I'm hunting.' Artorias smirks as he starts to trek through the forest._

_Hours pass as he wanders the forest. His eyes dart from tree to tree and even to the occasional rock. Always check the rock. Anybody could be hiding under or near them._

_You might see a boulder but by the time you realize it is Havel, he will have smashed you into a pulp._

_…..right, a bit too extreme, let's just forget about that. _

_A shadow, unseen by Artorias, sits quietly atop a tree. The shadow is shrouded by the shadows and the branches, giving it perfect obfuscation._

_Or so it thought. _

_Artorias passes right below the tree and the shadow leaps from the tree, towards the supposedly unsuspecting knight._

_Like I said, supposedly._

_Artorias sidesteps the shadow and grabs it by the waist before lifting the person up to eye level._

_"Hey beautiful."_

_Ciaran grunts and blushes under her mask as she tries to pry his arms off her waist._

_No such luck._

_"What's the magic word?" Artorias asks with a playful grin (Totally invisible under his hood). Ciaran sighs in defeat before preparing to throw away her pride._

_"P-please let me down Artorias, hunny bunny?"_

_Artorias breaks out in laughter as he gently sets her down and starts to hold his own stomach. Ciaran blushes and kicks him in the shin, successfully stopping his laughter and giving him a sore kneecap._

_"You weren't supposed to turn around. How did you know I was there?" Ciaran huffs in displeasure as she folds her arms over each other. Artorias shrugs and leans against the tree she jumped from._

_"My instinct. Never lets me down, not in battle, nor when you try and flirt with me."_

_"I-I wasn't trying to flirt! I was just testing my stealth skills!"_

_"Right. You were aiming for my neck. Your arms were spread in a position that would make you hug me around the neck when you land on me. Then you would refuse to get down until I do something or say something that will tarnish my pride."_

_Ciaran was thanking Gwyn for her mask, otherwise the object of her affection would have seen her immense blush. "H-h-how on earth did you know that!?" She almost yells in embarrassment at how he could read her so easily._

_"I just guessed. Thanks for letting me know I was right."_

_Fumes leave her ears as she chases after the knight who was laughing like a lunatic. She bump into his back as he suddenly stops. _

_"What is it?" She asks him with a hint of worry. His stance was poised for battle, and that was further signified as he lifted his great-sword off his back and held it tightly over his shoulder. Ciaran whips her gold and dark silver tracers out and takes her won battle stance, her back against Artorias'._

_"I sense something wrong. There is an unhealthy air in this section of the forest and it seems to have noticed us." Artorias informs Ciaran as his eyes scan the forest for anything out of the ordinary. Ciaran's eyes are moving in the same way, only she can pick up more detailed things through her sight compared to the other knights._

_Except Gough. He was called Hawkeye Gough for a reason._

_*snap*_

_The two knights of Gwyn's eyes dart towards the source of the sound. At first there was nothing, simply a dark forest. But then when lightning flashed through the sky…._

_A trio of Darkwraiths stood in front of them._

_"What in Gwyn's name are those?" Artorias asked to his shorter companion in worry. These knights were not human, their very presence seems to disturb nature. The dark warriors made no sound from under their skull masks as they slowly fanned out, two going around the pair of Gwyn's knights to flank them as the middle one stalks forward. There was no sense of anything from how it walked. It was moving slowly, not like how a hunter would stalk its prey or like how a monster uses its terrifying presence to scare its opponents._

_No, this stride was null of any feeling. _

_The Darkwraith was not confident it could win._

_It WILL win._

_"Artorias… I don't like this. Not one bit." Ciaran said as the Darkwraiths surrounded them. Attacking one of these unknown enemies was too risky without at least a bit of info on them. While they carried no shields, their swords looked strong enough to guard and parry from her attacks. She needed to gauge their speed if she wanted to kill them off fast._

_Artorias' eyes narrowed. If they didn't act soon, these things were going to attack. So he did what any knight with a great sword would do._

_He bull rushed one of them._

_"Hraaaah!" Artorias yelled as he charged towards a Darkwraith, swinging his blade in a horizontal arc, which was surprisingly dodged by the dark knight by ducking under the attack as it moved to make an uppercut across Artorias' left arm. However, the knight of Gwyn grabbed the Darkwraiths sword hand and with another battle cry, he threw the Darkwraith towards another that was coming up from behind him. The two collided and were sent sprawling on the muddy forest floor._

_Ciaran was not having such an easy time as she dodged another slash from the Darkwraith in front of her. While its movements were slow, there was a lot of power behind those swings. That thought was proven correct when she dodged a stab that was meant to hit her in the sternum. Instead, it went into a tree._

_And through it._

_Taking advantage of the enemy's momentary immobility, Ciaran stabbed it in the back, her dark silver tracer going through its heart and her golden tracer going through its right lung. She let out a small sigh as she started to pull out her blades.._

_*crack*_

_She also let out a grunt of pain as the Darkwraith's boot connects with her stomach._

_Its swings were not the only things filled with power, as its kick sent her flying a good meter and a half. She hissed in pain as she sat up, feeling her abdomen protest as she stood up. Her eyes went towards the Darkwraith and she gasped._

_It was still moving, pulling its sword out of the tree while her tracers were still lodged in its heart and lung. The damn thing didn't even bother to pull them out as it walked towards her. _

_Thankfully, an assassin always has a backup weapon._

_She pulled out a trio of throwing knives and threw them in quick succession, the blades speeding towards the dark knight's three vital areas; skull, heart and crotch._

_What? Most of her targets were male so she had to take advantage of their one weakness if it could speed along an assassination._

_The blades struck true and lodged in the different parts she aimed for, however the third knife missed the crotch and hitting its left thigh instead. Damn._

_The dark knight paid no mind as it stalked towards her. Ciaran decided to up her play a bit as she pulled out a black firebomb. A dangerous explosive indeed and if this doesn't hurt the Darkwraith, she wasn't sure what would aside from decapitation._

_But unfortunately, the dark knight in front of her was tired of playing games._

_In a frightening burst of speed, it dashed towards her and aimed to stab her stomach. As it stabbed, Ciaran jumped and landed with her feet on the Darkwraith's sword. Before it can react, she jumps and launches a kick at its head, knocking it back and launching her up to a tree branch that she gracefully caught with her left hand as she flipped herself up and into the tree's foliage. She would have jumped to another tree but with all the rain, everything was a bit too slippery. She nearly lost her grip when she grabbed the tree branch. _

_She watched as the Darkwraith recovered from the kick and started stalking towards her again._

_'What is it doing?' She thought as it walked to the tree almost casually and held its blade at its side with both hands._

_And then swung the dark sword towards the tree, severing it halfway through._

_'WHAT!?' Ciaran shouted mentally as the tree shook from the impact. She prepared to jump from the tree until it swung the blade again, this time cutting all the way through the tree. Her feet slipped as she jumped, making her fall with the now dead hunk of wood and crashed to the muddy ground. In that moment of clumsiness, her body ended up under one of the trees larger branches. Not big and heavy enough to crush her completely but enough to hurt like hell and stop her from moving. _

_Her eyes widened in horror as the Darkwraith begins to approach her. Her hand still around the firebomb, she prepares to light it, only now realizing that it was raining, so the bomb was soaked. Meaning, she couldn't light it. _

_As the Darkwraith stood over her, it slowly bent down and reached for her neck, its left hand starting to exhume a dark mist. She closed her eyes and waited for death to come._

_*SHUNK*_

_After a minute of realizing that she felt no pain, she opened her eyes to find that the Darkwraith was no longer there. She looked around and finally spotted it._

_It was pinned to a tree, a huge arrow lodged in its head. A very familiar arrow too._

_"Well, that was rather close." An incredibly deep voice spoke as its source approached. Ciaran looked up to see a huge figure standing over her, a great bow on its back._

_"You look like you could use a hand." Gough chuckled as he prepared to lift the tree branch off her. Ciaran sighed and let out a smile that Gough could not see but knew was there._

_Artorias and the Darkwraith in front of him started to circle each other, waiting for the time to strike. The other one was already dead, its lifeless body currently missing a head, and the other one currently engaging Ciaran._

_He could have taken out this Darkwraith quickly but there was something bugging him._

_These things carried an air of death around them. That was for sure. Yet every attack they made was done in an attempt to disarm him or incapacitate him. It was like they wanted to take him alive. _

_His thoughts were interrupted when the dark knight rushed at him, its blade held sideways as it prepared to slash him across the torso. It didn't even get the chance when Artorias swung his great sword with a ridiculous amount of speed and cut off its legs. It fell to the ground and lost its life as the knight of Gwyn's blade pierced its spine._

_With a sigh, Artorias rotates his arm and feels his joints pop as he stretches. That battle wasn't exactly difficult but those things were definitely bad news if they were to attack in numbers. Their strength was no joke either._

_The knight's eyes scan the dark forest for Ciaran, spotting a huge shadow in the process. As lightning flashed, he realized that it was just Gough lifting a large tree branch off of Ciaran._

_Wait, she was under a tree?_

_"Ciaran, are you okay?" Artorias shouts a he begins to walk towards them. The blonde assassin winces as she stands up, clutching her stomach. She turns towards him and was about to answer, until her posture suddenly stiffened. Gough immediately drew his great bow as she shouted._

_"Artorias, behind you!"_

_Unfortunately, the tall knight turned his head behind him a moment too late. The Darkwraith he thought to have killed had grabbed on to his leg. That wasn't a bad thing since he could just kick it off and chop its head off._

_Until he realized that he was sinking. The Darkwraith was pulling him into some sort of void, the ground changing into darkness. Artorias tried to break free from its hold but the darkness was still pulling him in. he was waist deep in the darkness as Ciaran and Gough tried to get to him. Her hand reached out to Artorias and he reached back, but the darkness had already swallowed him up. Ciaran's hand grabbed thin air as the darkness dissipates, Artorias vanishing with it._

_In the abyss, Artorias awakens. For one moment, he thought he had gone blind, as there was nothing but darkness around him. However, a light began to approach him. Well, a set of lights. Small and red glowing dots slowly started to move closer. He thought they were lights, until he felt the tremors. _

_Footsteps. _

_The eyes came closer and suddenly, he wished he was blind._

_In front of him was a monster, a monstrous parody of a large monkey. It had a face that held nothing but a mouth lined with razor sharp teeth. Sprouting from each side of its head was a bone like structure in the shape that is similar to a moose's antlers, only wider. Dozens of red eyes were littered on the antlers. Its body was large, black and furry, the stench of death coming off it like steam from hot water. In its right hand was a large staff, big enough for Gough to use as a vaulting pole. Its right hand was nearly as large as the rest of its body and was covered in a monstrous mass of dark matter, a horribly disfigured hand sprouting from the darkness._

**_"Welcome to the abyss, knight Artorias."_**

_The worst thing? It was apparently intelligent._

_"Who…. No, what are you?" the knight asked warily as he stood up and looked around, searching for his weapon._

**_"Humans call me many things. I am the thing in the dark, the monster in the closet, the beast under your bed, the bane of sunlight and the herald of vengeance. I am one on equal terms of power to your lord Gwyn, if not greater. I am the one who holds the dark flame."_**

_Its mouth twisted upwards in a horrifying attempt to smile._

**_"I am Manus, the king of the abyss. And I have an offer for you."_**

#present time#

The occupants of the room aside from Artorias were silent. What was there to say? They had just discovered that a creature far more terrifying than any dragon exists out there and was even powerful enough to corrupt this one noble knight in front of them.

"As much as I would like to tell more of my story, I feel a bit tired." Artorias says as he starts to yawn. Headmaster Osmond snaps out of his rather awed state and nods.

"Of course, you knights need your rest after all! Perhaps tomorrow afternoon you can tell me and Colbert the rest of the story?"

"Of course." Artorias nods with a smile. The two teachers bid the master and familiar goodnight and left the room, a dozen thoughts in their heads. Louise tried to stifle a yawn but failed as she felt herself become drowsy.

"Perhaps it is time for you to go to sleep as well. Well then, lead the way." Artorias said as he stood up. Louise looks at him with a confused face.

"Lead the way to where?"

"Your room of course. As your familiar, I am required to stay by your side at all times, correct?" The knight asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Louise blushes at the thought of sleeping in the same room with him.

"S-shouldn't you stay in this room's bed? You still need to rest after all and my room only has one bed…"

"That is fine, I've slept on the floor before. I can sleep on the floor until an extra bed is moved into the room."

"B-but… o-okay. Very well then, follow me family- I mean, Sir Artorias."

Louise walks out of the room, the tall knight following her. He had to duck under the doorway due to his height. As they walked through the hall way, Artorias marveled at the size of the school.

At one point, they walk past a blonde student, whispering sweet nothings to a girl. Artorias notices Louise place her palm on her face and mutter "Another one? That little flirt is going to get in trouble one of these days…"

Soon enough, they reach her room. Ducking under the doorway, Artorias found that it was a neat looking room, antique looking furniture decorating it. There was a large bed to the right and a huge wardrobe to the left. Louise spares a glance to the hay pile in the corner of the room that was meant for her familiar. But since her familiar is a knight, not an animal, that obviously would not do.

She notices Artorias staring at the hay pile too, until he turns his head towards her.

"That hay pile-"

"I'm sorry, I thought my familiar going to be an animal so I put a hay pile there for it to sleep on-"

"-Would be perfect for me to sleep on for now."

Louise stared as the knight moved over to the hay pile and sat down. He leaned his back against the wall, his eyes closing in content.

"Well then, I shall bid you goodnight, my master." Artorias says before succumbing to sleep.

Louise stares some more, just in case it was an illusion. She had a knight as a familiar. A knight as a familiar. A powerful knight as a familiar.

She felt a surge of pride go through her body as she went to the wardrobe, looking back at Artorias repeatedly to make sure he was asleep as she changed her clothes. She slipped under her sheets and stared at the ceiling until she fell asleep.

Tomorrow was going to be a nice day.

#Lordran, Cathedral of Anor Londo#

"So then, this is where you're supposed "Headquarters" is?" Gough asked the Chosen Undead as he and Ciaran walked behind the oddly armored Chaos Servant. After the defeat of Manus, the Chosen Undead had been persistent in getting the two knights to train him. He wouldn't shut up or leave them alone at all. In the end, they finally agreed to it, since they owed a great deal to the young soldier after all. So the Chosen Undead brought them to the present Anor Londo, surprising them on how different it was.

It was night in the city of the sun. An endless night.

"Yep! Plenty of challenges to find in it and lots of space! The inhabitants…. Eh, not so friendly but I have a really good friend there! She'll like you guys, I'm sure of it!" The Chosen Undead said happily. His great shield was on his back and his dark sword was sheathed.

Ciaran said nothing as she looked around the Cathedral. It has not changed at all during the years. She notices Gough suddenly stop and she turns her head towards what he was looking at.

A small number of painting guardians were standing guard in front of them. But for some strange reason, they appeared hesitant to attack.

"These guardians still protect that painting even now?" Gough asked nobody in particular. Ciaran's eyes narrowed as she stepped forward.

"I am the Lord's Blade Ciaran. I request peaceful passage through the Cathedral."

The painting guardians said nothing and continued to stare. The Chosen Undead turned his head towards the assassin and had a confused look on his face (Not that anyone could tell since his mask was in place).

"I don't know how these guys acted years ago but they won't answer now. They're practically hollow. But they DO know me…"

The Chosen Undead trails off as he lights a chaos flame in his left hand. The painting guardians stiffen and flinch the moment the flame comes to life and they begin to walk away.

"They know me VERY well." The Chaos Servant chuckled as he walked on, a pair of surprised knights trailing after him.

"How many times have you burned their kind with that flame to strike such fear in them? Gough asked, mildly impressed that someone could scare a painting guardian away.

"Eh, a couple of hundred. Lost count."

Ciaran could only face palm. This knight's careless attitude and proud behavior made him look like a mixture between Artorias and Ornstein.

The trio finally makes it to the giant painting. Now it was time to work some magic.

Ciaran watches closely as the Chosen Undead pulls out a small doll.

"Put your hands on the doll and I'll do the rest." The Chosen Undead said. The two knights of Gwyn place their hands on the peculiar doll, Gough's large hand covering the Chosen Undead's and Ciaran's. The Chaos Servant placed his hand on the painting and soon their world went black.

A while later, the trio walked across a bridge in the painted world, snow covering the entire landscape.

"Ah, here we are! Home sweet home!"

"Your standards for 'Home sweet home' are rather peculiar." Ciaran commented blankly as she looked around. They appeared to have entered an arena-like area. Gough suddenly tapped the assassin's shoulder and pointed towards something.

A large woman (Not fat, she was just large, like Artorias. Only bigger.) Was sitting in one corner of the arena, a huge scythe in her hands. She wore a large fur dress and had beautiful white hair and pale blue eyes. A long fluffy looking tail was curled around her body. Ciaran stiffens as she prepares for battle, sensing great power from the woman.

"Hey Priscilla, I'm home!"

Ciaran and Gough stare at the Chosen Undead as if he had gone insane. However, the white haired woman's reaction nearly made them drop their jaws in surprise.

"Welcome home my dear." The Crossbreed Priscilla said with a small and soft smile. The Chosen Undead walks towards her as Ciaran and Gough stare.

"Wait, Ciaran. Don't you recognize her?"

"Now that you mention it… isn't Priscilla Seath's.…"

Okay, now their jaws dropped. Though nobody could see it.

"He's dating Seath the scaleless' daughter!?"

And on that day, a thousand waifu fags cried out in pain and were suddenly silenced.

**Whoo, I liked this chapter. Now then, on to the notes!**

**I know Ciaran seemed a little OOC but I see her as Dark Soul's tsundere, along with Quelaag and Quelana of Izalith.**

**Besides, that was before Artorias died so she may have been like that once. Either way, one can easily imagine Artorias man handling Ciaran as she enters tsundere mode.**

**Also, I made the Darkwraiths a little more undead than an undead here. Just to make them seem more formidable. And I gave their power a bit of a boost since they ARE feared for a reason. Slow but strong.**

**They never really mention how Artorias meets Manus so I had to make up a story. I hope it is good so far. Anyhow, the final note would be about Priscila. Yes, the Chosen Undead here is dating her.**

**What can I say? Don't ask how he did it, he just did. **

**I'm slightly disappointed that none of my regular reviewers have posted any reviews on my story or even answered all ten of the questions but who am I to complain? I appreciate the effort of those who answered only some of the questions through review but remember that if you do manage to think of an answer for all ten, send it through PM, not review.**

**Now then, thanks for reading, I hope you review and follow!**

**This is Sakurada and he is about to fall asleep since it was 2 AM when he finished this chap- *Collapses on bed and falls asleep.***


	3. Chapter 3: First day (HOWLING)

**Chapter 3: Howling**

**Guess who!? Cue ma theme song! *Bad Apple by Yuyoyuppe plays in background* Sakurada Kiritsugu, DESU!**

**Now then, I have returned with another chapter of Voidwalker! Yay! And I am very happy with the reviews I've gotten! Only two chapters and 27 reviews! That is probably because so many people were wishing for a DS/ZNT fic where Artorias ends up as a familiar but couldn't be bothered or lacked the ability/courage/etc to type it. I will do my best to make this story great and not a total failure!**

**First, a few responses to a few reviews.**

**For thefluffyone93 who told me to get rid of my commentary immersion in between scenes, sorry but that ain't gonna happen! This is how I write! However I will not do any of those immersions during something completely and 100% serious.**

**For the guest who said something about a theory that Artorias used his great sword in his left hand, exactly what did you mean? If this is regarding the location of his runes, it won't affect which hand he holds it in. If he holds the blade in his right hand, the runes will glow anyway. I put them there for reasons that you will have to discover some other time.**

**To Perverted Demon (Thanks for letting the female members of this site about your personality in advance), I know very well that my fic is not that well known….. So I shall ask you to spread the word! Muahahaha! Thou art now the messenger of the Voidwalker!**

**To Ultima-owner (great to see ya buddy), even Gough will agree to that and he's blind. Manus is one ugly sonovabitchthatjustwon'tdiewheneverIfighthimshythehellcan'tIburnhimtoIzalithGwyndammit**

**To the guest who said something about the size difference between Priscilla and my Chosen Undead, I kid you not. They can still love each other for who they are, no matter how big or small they are! Size matters not. The point is that they care for each other and are in love. ****恋****!**

**..Or were you thinking that she would be too big and heavy for him when they do 'it'? *wiggles eyebrows***

**…Okay, let's move on before the waifu fags go ballistic over that mental image.**

**Speaking of which, for the guy who asked if I was VaatiVidya from the Dark Souls Lore on youtube, the answer is NOPE! But I do watch Dark Souls Lore and I respect VaatiVidya a great deal for making those videos. And I laughed my ass off at the video 'Priscilla's Chastity belt'.**

**I mean come on, 'Prepare to Kawaii!' *LOL* pricelessly epic.**

**Alrighty, better get a move on. I'm worried that there was a section in the rules of uploading stories that said 'No ass kissing' so I better get to the story! Hit it Solaire!**

**…Solaire? Something wrong budd-HOLY SHIT!**

***Solaire struggles with a sunlight maggot trying to attach itself to his head***

**Me: Aw Brimir's balls, not again! Hang on buddy, I'm on my way, just avoid thinking about the sun!**

**Solaire: But that is practically all that I ever think about!**

**Me: Think about Logan getting busy with Griggs!**

**Solaire: GYAAAAAH! *the horrible mental image gives him the panic and adrenaline to push the ugly parasite away and stab it to death repeatedly his sunlight straight sword.***

**Me: …..Well he'll be busy so I think we'll skip the commentary. Roll the tape.**

**Chapter 3: The first day**

**HUNGER. HUNGER PLAGUED HIS BODY. FOODDEATHEATSOULSHUMANITYABYSSOOLACILEKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL-**

**_"-torias, don't leave me! Don't go-"_**

**-LightsoftwarmlovekindpeaceemptywhitesunCiaran-**

Artorias woke with a jolt. Whatever manner of nightmare he just had was one hell of a wakeup call. His dream was nothing but an empty void, an endless darkness like the abyss but warmer and it surged with great power. He had the same dream when yesterday when he woke up after being summoned and like that one, it ended with an incomprehensible nightmare that left him confused. Somehow, he had the feeling that these nightmares won't leave anytime soon.

He looked over to the bed where his master lay sound asleep. Her face was quite adorable when she was dreaming. Her brow was relaxed and her mouth was slightly parted as her slow breathing went about its course. Artorias stands up and stretches, deciding to take off his armor. He'll get incredibly uncomfortable if he had to wear it constantly.

'Hmmm, I will have to ask master about getting me some new clothes. I can't wear this all the time.' The knight was rather surprised at how easily he accepted Louise as his master. It was strange.

After a long process of taking off his armor, he was left in the rather tight long sleeved black cotton shirt he wore underneath and the long black pants. He was barefoot but that mattered not. He needed to let his toes breath anyway.

He walked over to his Louise's bed and knelt down. He laid a hand upon her shoulder and shook her gently. "Master, it is already dawn. You must wake up."

Louise just rolled over and mumbled incoherently. "M..Mmm…Munya…."

'Munya?' Artorias thinks with a rather quizzical expression before resuming his shaking, only with a tad bit more force. "Master, time to wake up."

"Nn..nno, I'm not hungry….. rhmm…fine, just a bite…."

Artorias had barely registered the last word before she turned her head and bit on his index and middle fingers.

Though being a knight, his fingers have to have a good strength so he can hold his great sword without ever losing his grip. Therefore, his fingers are also tough. A flick from them will certainly hurt a lot, not to mention biting them.

Which Louise discovered as she yelped and held a hand over her mouth. "My teeth! Ouchie, what did I just bite!?"

"My fingers, apparently."

Artorias' voice makes her snap to reality and blush as she realized what she just did. She fumbles around as she tries to cover herself up with the blankets in order to preserve her modesty, as her clothes became rather disheveled in her sleep.

"A-a-are your fingers okay?"

"My fingers? I'm more worried about your teeth!" The knight exclaimed with amusement as he bent and wiggled the bit fingers to show they were fine.

"A-a…hauuu, I am so sorry…" Louise moans as she covers her face with her blanket.

"Tis no problem. Now then, shouldn't you get dressed so you may have breakfast? It is the most important meal of the day." Artorias replied as he stood up. Louise peeked out from under the blanket.

"C-can you wait outside while I get dressed?" She asked timidly. The knight smiled and stood up as he said "Of course." And walked to the door.

As he waited outside the room, a door opposite Louise's room opened up to reveal a voluptuous dark skinned redhead. Kirche.

"Well well well, so this is what the dark knight looks like under the helm? You should wear that armor a lot less when you've got a face like that." Kirche said with a flirty grin as she looked at Artorias as if she was sizing him up.

"Why thank you, I appreciate the comment, miss..?"

"Kirche Von Zerbst." The redhead said with a hint of pride when she said her last name.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Zerbst."

"Oh please, call me Kirche."She said with a wink. Suddenly Artorias had a very bad feeling.

"So, whatcha doing out here? Is little Valliere to afraid to have a handsome man like you in the same room as her?"

As he opened his mouth to answer, the door to Louise's room swung open so suddenly, it smacked into Artorias. Louise apparently didn't notice.

"For your information, I was changing my clothes! Unlike you, I have some modesty in front of men!" The now fully clothed Louise growled irritably at Kirche. To her surprise, Kirche burst out laughing.

"Ohoho, Valliere! Do you have any idea who was behind the door when you opened it like that?"

Louise looked confused for a moment before closing the door behind her and turning her gaze upon the person she just slammed the door into.

"Oh Founder, are you okay!?" Louise shouted in panic as she realized what she just did, making Kirche laugh even louder.

"…..Not even Ciaran managed to surprise attack me like that. I am actually slightly impressed." Artorias said as he rubbed his nose.

"I didn't mean iiit!"

Artorias chuckled slightly until he felt another being enter the hallway. He opened his eyes and they stared at the odd creature that stood on its four legs next to Kirche.

"….What is that?" The knight of Gwyn asked with genuine confusion. It wasn't a dragon but it certainly was no ordinary lizard. Its tail was on fire and it had a few embers sparking from its mouth.

Not to mention it was as big as a tiger.

"Oh, this? This is my familiar, Flame. He's a Salamander!" Kirche declares proudly and puffs out her chest in pride. Louise glares at those particular assets in slight envy.

"A Salamander? I have heard tales of them but to actually see one… quite impressive." Artorias said as he looked at the lizard, which looked at him with a bit of confusion. Was this really the knight that had terrified it so much before?

"Is this the first time you have actually seen one? Can't say I'm surprised, you must have come from quite an odd land, with your height and all."

"Ahaha, not everybody was this tall…" Artorias chuckles. Unlike the dragons in Lordran which were once the ones that made up most of the population, salamanders were more of a cousin to them, like the wyverns. They were much fewer in number due to the fact that they can only survive in biomes of intense heat, such as Lost Izalith. But even there, they require a lot of food, so they have had to adapt over the centuries and changed their diet to survive. What they currently eat though is still unknown.

The salamander suddenly shuffled towards the knight and started to sniff him. Kirche watched this with some interest.

"What is it Flame? Does the good knight smell nice?" She asks with a small laugh as Artorias shifts uncomfortably at how the large lizard was sniffing him.

However, the moment it started sniffing his left arm, it retracted almost immediately and shuffled back to Kirche. The redhead stared at her own familiar with some confusion before shrugging. "Maybe the poor thing is still rather scared after your summoning. Don't worry, it'll get over it."

"Was my summoning really that bad?" Artorias asks with some guilt. Louise develops a frown at the mention of the event. It was technically her fault the salamander was scared. She felt a bit of pride at how Kirche's strong familiar cowered at the presence of her own but she still felt a bit bad.

For the salamander. Not for Kirche. Never for Kirche.

"Well, at least you turned out alright. Now then, I need to go and eat before classes start. Come along Flame. Oh, you too Tabitha!" Kirche says, not before giving a wink to Artorias as she walks down the hallway.

"Tabitha?" The knight asks with a puzzled expression, until somebody walks right past him. His eyes widen in surprise when the blue haired girl with glasses just seemingly popped out of nowhere. It was the same girl that rode the dragon from yesterday.

Tabitha walks past them and then stops to look at Artorias, and then at Louise.

"W-what?" the pinkette asks Tabitha. Her quiet gaze was kind of unnerving.

"….Strong familiar." Tabitha said as she pointed to the door to Louise's room. Louise looks at the door and stifled a tiny gasp as she saw there was a small dent where it collided with Artorias' head. The blue haired girl continues to stare curiously at Louise.

"Strong familiar means strong master."

"S-so what?"

Tabitha tilts her head slightly. "Strange."

Louise's face turns a bit red from anger. "Are you mocking me?"

Tabitha shakes her head before walking away. "Curious."

As the blue haired dragon rider walks away, Louise just stares in confusion and anger. Artorias just watched the exchange with some interest. He was more interested in how Tabitha managed to sneak up on him like that. Only Ciaran could ever do that (when she was actually trying). Which could only mean….

"Is Tabitha just a student like the rest of you?" The knight asks with curiosity and a bit of dread. He hoped he was wrong.

"What? Of course she is! She's just a little odder than most. Why?"

"Because only one person could sneak up on me without me noticing and she was an assassin."

With that final word, Artorias walked down the hallway, a confused Louise walking after him.

The dining room was huge. Artorias expected a large room since this was a school but this was nearly as big as the cathedral in Anor Londo! In the dining room, there were three tables, lined up parallel to each other. Louise walked and sat at the middle table, Artorias standing behind her.

"Umm… normally familiars are not supposed to be allowed in here but since you're a knight, I asked headmaster Osmond if we could bend the rules a little. Since you're a knight, you may sit at the table because you are technically nobility."

"I am honored that you would do that for me, master." Artorias smiles and sits next to her. He looks around and notices that the other students were sitting further away from them. He saw them whisper to each other and point at him and Louise, causing him to sigh. It seems that the students have started some rumors.

"Is something the matter?" Louise asks as she eats her roast chicken after saying her prayer. For a breakfast, the food was certainly lavish.

"Huh? Oh, I was just… looking at those statues." Artorias points at the small statues of little people. "They are incredibly life-like. I thought that they would look rather amusing if they came to life secretly at night."

Louise stares at him and laughs a bit. "Hehehe… well…"

"Wait, they do?" the knight asks in disbelief.

"The statues of the Alviss are enchanted so they come to life at a certain hour." Louise says as she puts her finger up in a lecturing pose.

"Why?"

"At first it was a prank that headmaster Osmond played to scare the first year students whenever they enter this place at night. But that was a long time ago so now the novelty has worn off."

"I see….." Artorias nods and looks around the dining hall. He can see Kirche sitting with a number of boys that stared at her and listened to her every word as she spoke. The knight could tell at how the boys occasionally glanced at her breasts that they held some lust for her. And apparently, that was just what Kirche was aiming for.

He saw Tabitha sitting a little further from Kirche, eating food with her mouth and eating words with her eyes as she read and ate at the same time.

"Aren't you going to eat? I can't have my familiar walk around with an empty stomach you know." Louise asks and begins to eat an apple. The knight looks at the huge banquet in front of him. It was just like the banquets in Anor Londo, only these children had it every single day. He wouldn't be surprise if the dinner was twice as big.

"Well then, I praise Gwyn, lord of sunlight for this feast and pray that it nourishes my body and soul well."

With that prayer, Artorias begins to eat.

The classrooms were large as well, the seats being arrange upward like stairs and a table for the teacher at the lowest level. As Louise and Artorias entered, the students began whispering to one another. Artorias glanced around and saw the various familiars doing their thing. Cats were sleeping near their masters, the bird familiars were either perched upon a student's shoulder or on the table and various other normal animals were lounging around.

It was the more mythical looking creatures that caught Artorias' eye. Kirche's salamander was asleep under her chair, a six legged lizard was hobbling around near a table, and an odd looking creature with several tentacles was in the corner of the room and various other strange creatures. Especially…

"What in Gwyn's beard is that?" Artorias asked as he stared at an odd looking eyeball creature.

"A bugbear. Don't even ask why it's named that, I have no idea." Louise said as she sat down at her desk. She turned her head at Artorias when she noticed that he didn't move to sit down.

"..If it is fine with you master, I wish to explore the school grounds to get a better idea of the layout of this area."

Louise frowned a little but nodded. He was a knight and a knight needed to know where exactly he was before he started living in it.

Artorias walked towards the door and opened it, just as a woman was about to enter. She wore purple robes and had a friendly plump face.

"Oh, pardon me madam." The knight said as he let her enter first before he exited the room. The teacher looked at the door with a confused expression before turning to the students.

"Who was that man, children?"

"That was my familiar." Louise declared with pride in her voice and her chest puffed out, causing Kirche to laugh a bit.

"Familiar? But he was human, albeit a very tall one."

"He wasn't human!" a student shouted from his desk. "That thing tried to attack the Zero the moment it was summoned and tried to attack Professor Colbert! It's a monster!"

"Shut up, Artorias is not a monster! He was just under the influence of a curse!"

"The zero summoned a cursed knight? We're all doomed! Now her explosions will probably curse us too!" a boy shouted, causing a few of the other students to laugh.

Until suddenly their mouths were filled with clay. As the students tried to spit out the clay but found out they couldn't, the teacher looked at them with a stern expression.

"Since you thought it was funny to mock another student's familiar like that, you shall continue to study with that clay in your mouth for the rest of the session. I, Chevreuse shall not tolerate bullying." The teacher gave a kind smile to Louise as she walked down to the teacher's table.

And thus the lesson began.

Artorias paced around the school grounds calmly as he mapped every nook and cranny in his mind. Even if it was a school, there was still a small chance that bandits or maybe the occasional wild animal could attack all of a sudden. And since the dragons are not extinct in this world, one of those may attack for no reason.

'I wonder how much of this world is connected to mine. Everything is so different yet so similar…" The knight of Gwyn thought as he looked at the sun.

'I wonder what the others are doing now. Gough is probably still where he left him, safe in that tower. He may be a great archer but he is still blind. Hopefully, the abyss is gone so that Gough can leave the place safely. Ornstein is probably still in Anor Londo. Sif… he should still be in the abyss, under my shield's protection. And Ciaran…"

Artorias develops a distant look on his face as he remembers his lover. The last memory he had of her was when he was going to face Manus.

_#flashback#_

_"Artorias!" Ciaran shouted as she ran closer to the knight. He was fully armored, his great sword in his right hand and his great shield in his left._

_"Artorias, you can't do this! If the monster of the abyss is the cause of what happened to these people then how can you face him and hope to survive!?" The blonde assassin shouted as she gestured to the corpses of the abominations that the people of Oolacile have become._

_"I have to. As the Abysswalker, it is my responsibility. No one else can enter the abyss without me entering with them. If we wait for reinforcements, the abyss will have spread even further!"_

_"Then take me with you! You're taking SIf, so take me as well!"_

_"I cannot. Just by going in here with SIf, the chance of either of us ever coming out is slim. I cannot put your life at that risk Ciaran."_

_"I don't care! Don't you dare enter the abyss without me-"Ciaran was cut off when Artorias took off her mask and sealed her lips with his own. The kiss was heated and passionate as she held on to him tightly._

_As their lips parted, Artorias smiles at his lover. "I love you Ciaran. I always will. That is why I must fight Manus. So he doesn't take that love away." He says softly as he moves away from her and walks away, SIf walking beside him._

_"No, Artorias! Don't leave me!"_

_Darkness starts to spread under Artorias' feet and he starts to sink as he walks into the abyss with SIf._

_"ARTORIAS!"_

_#end flashback#_

The knight of Gwyn felt tears stream down his face and he reached up to wipe them away.

"Ciaran…. I'm so sorry…"

He stood there in silence.

*KABOOM*

Until an explosion sounded off from the school building. His eyes widening in surprise, he runs towards where the explosion came from, realizing that it came from the same building Louise was in. In fact, it might have even came from her classroom!

Upon arriving at the classroom, his jaw nearly dropped at the state it was in. The chalkboard and table where the teacher work at was blown to smithereens, several tables were either scorched or knocked over and the students were either cowering under their tables or trying to calm down their panicking familiars.

Louise was leaning against a wall near the teacher's table, her clothes and face black with soot. Her face had a miserable expression on it.

"Master, what happened!?" Artorias shouts as he rushes down the stairs.

"I'll tell you what happened! The Zero failed another simple spell again!" An angry looking student shouted from behind his desk, hugging his dog familiar. A number of shouts of agreement were heard. Miss Chevreuse slowly stood up from her spot on the other side of the table as she kept a hand on her back in pain.

"W-well, it s-seems that you should practice m-more. I g-guess fire magic is more up your alley?"

"Oh Founder, you don't want to know what happens when she tries to use fire magic!" An arrogant student shouts out, causing a number of others to laugh and nod.

"Go home already Louise the Zero!"

"This place is for people who can do magic, not people like you!

A number of other students voiced their opinions.

"SILENCE!"

Until a very irritated knight of Gwyn shut them up.

Artorias glared at the students, his eyes beginning to glow sky blue, unbeknownst to him, causing the students to start shivering in fear.

"The poor girl fails a magic spell, so what? It is no use berating her about it. You are all lucky she is kind otherwise she would have used such explosive magic to punish you for insulting her a long time ago!" Artorias shouts at the students.

Kirche stared at Artorias' glowing blue eyes and suddenly felt herself become drawn into it. They were dazzling.

Tabitha watched Louise with some pity and studied Artorias' eyes. That was not natural, there was some sort of magic behind it.

"….Come now master, let's get you cleaned up." The knight says, the glow in his eyes fading as he helps Louise up and ushers her out of the class.

The class is in silence for a few minutes until Miss Chevreus lets out a small cough.

"Well, we might as well get on with the lesson. Do not forget to take a few notes and keep in mind what Miss Valliere's…. familiar said."

They did.

Artorias was fuming as he and Louise walked to her room.

'How dare they. How dare they! They dare insult master so harshly! She is just a child! (Keep in mind that due to Louise's height, Artorias thinks she is a few years younger than the rest of the students). They have no right to berate her for her failures as if they have never failed before! If I had my great sword, I would-'

Artorias immediately stopped walking with wide eyes as he realized how violent his thoughts were. This was not normal. He has never been angry like that before. Even with Ornstein, he never shouted in rage like that. What changed?

'Oh Lord Gwyn, what has the abyss done to me?' Artorias questions the lord of sunlight mentally as he regrets his outburst.

"A-Artorias?"

Upon hearing Louise speak in such a meek tone, the knight blinks and shakes the thoughts out of his head. "Yes master?"

"A-are you alright?"

"Am I alright? You were in direct contact with an explosion!"

"They don't usually hurt me… I really screwed up again…" Louise says dejectedly, her head hung low in shame. Artorias places a hand on her head and ruffles her hair a bit.

"It is alright master. There must be a reason to your mistakes when using magic. But first, you need to take a bath."

Professor Colbert was sitting in the library, rummaging and speed reading through every book about runes and familiars that he could find.

'There must be something, anything to explain his runes!' Colbert shouted mentally. Ever since he looked at the runes on Artorias' left arm, he had an insane curiosity to discover what it was that made it so different. The runes were etched not only into his left hand but they went all the way up his left arm. The runes were even visible on the armor of the knight's left gauntlet.

Strangely enough, once the runes were etched into Artorias' arm, the markings along his arm disappeared, with the exception of the ones on the back of his left hand.

Sighing, Colbert put down another book he had taken from the special section of the library where only the teachers were permitted access. As he opened up another book and began flicking through the pages, his eyes caught sight of some odd runes, not too different to Artorias' runes. He took a look at the cover which read "The familiars of the Founder". He looked at the runes, his eyes widening when he realized that they were identical, with the exception of one small symbol.

When it comes to runes, they come in various symbols that give different effects and bestow different powers. Of course, for the more powerful runes you need to have an outrageous amount of willpower to cast such powerful magic to carve those runes, hence why the Founder Brimir had such powerful familiars when he made the runes.

In the book, there is a symbol that is read out as "Shield" in the very center of the runes that are similar to Artorias'. According to the sketch he made of the knight's runes, that symbol was missing. Instead, it read out as something else. Searching for a list of symbols and their meanings, he found one at the very end of the list, right above the symbol that meant Heart. The symbol on Artorias' left hand.

'It doesn't read out as shield…. It reads out as… Abyss?'

Old Osmond was a really old man. Hence the nickname the students gave him.

He was also a pervert. His excuse for that accusation is "I am old, so I am simply trying to enjoy my life before I die! Is that so much of a crime?"

Of course, this excuse does not work against his secretary, Miss Longueville, who was in the process of kicking the crud out of him for using his mouse familiar to peek up her skirt and tell him the color of her undergarments.

Fortunately, his hide was saved when Colbert burst through the door. "Old Osmond!"

The bearded man looked up from his cowering position and raised an eyebrow. "Yes? Is there a problem Colby?"

"I did some research on Sir Artorias' runes and you will not believe what I have found!"

Suddenly, Osmond's face takes on a serious expression as he stands up and turns his head to Longueville. "Could you please excuse us for a moment?"

She complies and leaves the room, leaving the two teachers in a tense silence.

"What is it that you found?"

"I looked up his runes and found that they are almost identical to one of the familiars of Founder Brimir, the Gandalfr!"

"You do realize that the Founder Brimir was a void mage?"

Colbert nods. Osmond begins to stroke his magnificent beard.

"If, say it were true, that Artorias is the Gandalfr, what does that make Miss Valliere?"

"Well… I believed he was the Gandalfr but as I said, his runes were ALMOST similar, so Miss Valliere might not be a void mage. Might." The bald teacher said and emphasized the almost. Osmond's eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"Almost? Then what else could they be? Windalfr? Myoznitnirm?"

Colbert shakes his head.

"Don't tell me… the fourth one?"

"If only that were true."

Colbert placed the sketch of Artorias' runes on the table and the book of the Founder's familiars next to it.

"I tried to translate the runes. Every line and symbol has its own meaning. The Gandalfr's runes should have the words "Shield, protect, weapon" in these places. But instead, the runes on Sir Artorias' hand read out as this." Colbert gave the sketch to Old Osmond, who eyed it with a serious gaze until his eyes widened considerably.

"Abyss, destroy, devour?"

It was already lunchtime when Louise had finished cleaning herself up. She and Artorias made their way to the dining hall, Louise silent all the way. The knight gave a worried glance at Louise but said nothing. She needed her space.

The students from Louise's class immediately turned their heads upon noticing Louise and Artorias enter the dining hall. Some began to whisper to each other while others just turned back to eating. Louise made her way to one end of the usual table and began to pray to Brimir before eating, Artorias doing his own prayer. As they began eating, a student sat in front of them, carrying a book and a plate.

Tabitha.

"…"

"…"

Neither students said anything to each other and just continued to stare. After a few minutes, they just shrugged at each other and broke eye contact. Tabitha sat down and doing her eating and reading combination. Louise continued to stare at her food as she ate, as if she was going to eat the food with her eyes too. Artorias suddenly felt very uncomfortable. He was always used to lunch being a rowdy time back in Lordran, to suddenly have a lunch that had a heavy silence over it was uncomfortable.

He noticed though how Tabitha occasionally glanced at Louise and sometimes him. Odd.

"….Why are you sitting here anyway?" Louise broke the silence with a question to the blue haired classmate.

"Pity." Tabitha answered without missing a beat.

Louise's brow furrowed at that. "I don't need your pity."

"Worried."

"Worried? About me?"

The blue haired girl nodded and continued to eat as she kept her eye contact with Louise, putting her book down.

Putting. Her. Book. Down.

When it comes to Tabitha putting a book down, that happens only once in a blue moon.

"…Why?" Louise asked, wondering if this was going to lead to an elaborate prank played by the other students. Maybe even organized by Kirche.

"….."

Tabitha paused, leading Artorias to think that she was trying to find a one word answer. Two tops.

"…I'm guessing that you two don't talk much?" Artorias asked to both girls. Louise scoffs and finishes the food on her plate.

"Of course we don't. She hardly talks at all anyway."

"I had assumed you were friends."

"Why would we be? She's a genius student who can use magic very proficiently, I'm the zero who can't do one single spell. Why would she even want to be friends with me?" Louise said, crossing her arms.

"I do."

Louise snaps her head at Tabitha, who had finished the food on her plate as well. The glasses wearing girl's face held no expression as usual, but there was something there.

"Y-you do? Why?"

"You're lonely." Tabitha said flatly as she held her right hand out to the pinkette. "I was too."

Louise stares at the hand as if it was going to suddenly turn into a weapon. "Y-you already have Zerbst as a friend, right? W-why would you want to be friends with me?"

Tabitha's head tilted to the side slightly. "Friends can be more than one."

Louise continued to stare disbelievingly before finally grasping Tabitha's right hand with her left as they shook hands. A smile started to form on the pink haired girl's face.

"I never would have expected the quietest person I know to call me lonely." Louise said with a small giggle. Tabitha's face did not change, other than the small upturn of her lips into a very concealable small and the soft expression in her eyes.

Artorias smiles at the exchange. His master was already making progress in changing. She's got a new friend. Soon she will get another. And then more. What she needs other than an answer to her problems with magic is friends to have her back when something goes wrong. She must have been lonely for a very long time.

"Master, may I be permitted to leave the table? I wish to visit the kitchen staff to see if they require any assistance."

Louise snaps out of her small happy daze and looks at her familiar. "O-of course, go ahead."

The knight smiled and walked to the kitchen.

The kitchen was bustling with chefs and maids as they cooked and cleaned and prepared to serve food. Upon walking in, more than a few heads turned his way. One in particular was a short, raven haired maid that just stared at Artorias' towering figure.

"…Tall…." She muttered half-mindedly.

"Why thank you, I am."

"W-whaaa, I did not mean to stare sir! Please forgive me!" The maid quickly apologizes, causing Artorias to chuckle.

"As expected of a maid, you are incredibly polite. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"S-Siesta!"

"It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Siesta. I am knight Artorias."

Several gasps are sounded out by some maids, Siesta included. A few chefs nearly dropped their pans.

"A-a knight?"

"A knight from the castle?"

"What is a knight doing here?"

The maids were aflutter with excitement. Siesta stared at the tall man with sky blue eyes as she asked "T-then where is your armor?"

Artorias smiled. "Well I can't keep wearing that stuff. How will I wash myself?"

Siesta blushes in embarrassment at the stupidity of her question. "T-then what is it you need, sir knight?

"I was going to ask if any help was required in this kitchen."

An awkward silence ensued.

"What in Brimir's name is going on in this world? A knight wanting to help commoners work in the kitchen? HA!" A well rounded man exclaimed. Artorias turned his head towards the man with a raised eyebrow.

"And you are?"

"Marteau, the head chef and I'll be damned if I ever let a knight handle my kitchen! I'm willing to bet my salary that you have never even cooked once in your life!"

"I have actually tried once but it ended up in a horrible failure resulting in several of the men in my squadron to die of food poisoning."

The chef stared at Artorias incredulously, other members of the staff and Siesta doing the same. "Y-you're serious?"

"No, but they did wind up with a bad stomach ache after that." The knight replied with a small grin. The chef continued to stare until he started to laugh heartily.

"Hahaha, oh I think I like you! If you do wish to help us, perhaps you can help by serving the noble kids out there the dessert? That'll give them a fright, a knight serving dessert. Ha! Just don't add anything in it or I'll be sacked for letting a few bratty kids get poisoned!" The large man laughed as he turned to the raven haired maid. "Siesta, do help the knight serve the desserts will you? There is much work to be done!"

"A-ah, yes!"

The other members of the staff got back to work after hearing Artorias' joke, most of them still chuckling about it. The only knights with a good sense of humor were the bad ones who have not had a real taste of battle, yet they could see from the man's stature and posture that he was anything but that. Siesta and a few other maids led Artorias to the table where they had several plates with various cakes on them. While each of the maids and Siesta picked up one plate, Artorias picked up two with little effort.

"Well then, it is time to serve some cake."

As Kirche went around to search for Tabitha, who had vanished while she was flirting with the boys, she finally found the blue haired girl, unexpectedly sitting with Louise. The two were talking and Louise was smiling.

'Wow, her mood was horrible before. How did she get cheered up so quickly? And where is that delicious specimen of a man…' The busty redhead mentally drooled as she approached the two girls. "Hiya Tabitha, Valliere. Whatcha talking about?"

Louise developed a frown when Kirche suddenly came in but she quickly tried to make her face straight again. "Oh, just talking about some of the subjects that I missed in class after the explosion, Zerb-I mean….. Kirche."

The tanned girl's eyes widened at the use of her first name. "Y-you just said my name! You never say my name! Why did you suddenly just use my first name?" Kirche said with a surprised expression. Louise's cheeks reddened a bit.

"Friends." Tabitha said as she pointed a finger at Louise.

"S-since I'm friends with Tabitha, I-I must tolerate you as well, s-so from now on I will call y-you by your first name."

Kirche stared at the two for a while before squealing in joy and wrapping her her arms around Tabitha's head and pulling her into a tight embrace, the blue haired girl's face lodged between Kriche's breasts.

"Kyaa, I knew you would make another friend! Oh I am so happy to have another friend now! Even if it is you Valli-I mean Louise!"

"Furfurfafing (Suffocating)" Tabitha said, her voice muffled by the tanned cleavage.

"Here, let me hug you as well!" Kirche said as she let go of Tabitha and walked over to the other side to Louise.

"N-no no, don't even thi-"Louise's protest were cut off by the mounds of flesh that were being pressed firmly to her as she was embraced by the redhead.

"Oh we are going to have so much fun! We can do all sorts of things my mother used to do with her friends in Germania!"

"Hrlp mree! (Help me!)"The pinkette's muffled voice cried out to Tabitha, who simply mouthed a silent apology. Though Louise was glaring at Kirche, she couldn't help but smile a bit. 'Zerbst, a friend? What's next, Artorias as a waiter?'

"Excuse me…"

The trio of girls turn their heads to the voice. Louise gaped slightly at the person that was her familiar, who held a tray in his hand with all sorts of yummy looking cakes on it.

"Would any of you ladies care for dessert?" Artorias asked with a charming smile. A metaphorical gunshot was fired through the hearts of several female students that saw him say that. Artorias noticed a few female students at a different table drool slightly with happy expressions. 'They must be hungry for cake. I would have expected them to have better composure though since they are nobles. Ah well, children.'

"A-A-Artorias! Why are you serving cake!?" Louise shouted in shock. Kirche had a conflicted face on as she tried to decide what to stare hungrily at. The cake or the hot stud. Tabitha's face was as usual.

"Hmm? Do you not remember, master? I asked for permission to leave before so I may ask the staff if they require any help. The head chef is incredibly charismatic, I must say. So are the rest of the kitchen staff."

"Ooh, this familiar of yours impresses me more and more Louise! I feel so hungry now!" Kirche said happily as she had an arm around Louise's shoulders, the other patting the pinkette's head.

"You're hungry? Did you not eat any of the food on the table for lunch?" Artorias asks with a confused expression. Kirche's smile turns from happy to sultry as she bends over a bit to give the knight a good look at her cleavage.

"I am rather hungry for food… among other things…" She said with a flirty tone.

"B-BAKA, stop flirting with my familiar! He already has a lover!"

"I am afraid I must agree with my master, please cease your pursuit. I am quite happy with my beloved." Artorias said with an anime sweat drop. Kirche's shoulders slump.

"Aww, why are all the good looking ones taken… and how can a man resist my charms anyway?"

"Love." Tabitha said with a straight face.

"What's not to love about me? I'm gorgeous, funny and all the other boys love me!"

"Not love. Lust."

Kirche and Tabitha continue to discuss her good and bad points while Louise walks to Artorias. "Your lover… she's back in your world."

"I know."

"And you still love her even though she's probably already or will move on?"

A sad smile spreads on Artorias' lips.

"Always."

It was a good 10 minutes after giving the three girls some cake when Artorias spotted something interesting as he made his rounds around the tables. He was walking along the middle table as he unintentionally overheard a small conversation going on between several male students with this one particular student. He had blonde hair, sat with noble looking posture and held a rose.

"So Guiche, who are you going out with now?"

"Yeah, c'mon, tell us!"

The boy named Guiche simply waved his wand in an elegant fashion. "Ahaha, I hold no such regard with a woman. After all, a rose blooms for the pleasure of many!"

_'Rose? Try pansy! Hehehe!' _Ornstein's voice suddenly popped into Artorias' head. The knight snickered silently at the thought. It was definitely the kind of thing the dragon slayer would say.

Artorias noticed as he walked past that the boy named Guiche was also the one he saw with Louise as they walked to her room last night. 'Wasn't he trying to woo another girl? Does he not like to be publicly open about his relationships?'

He then saw a small glass bottle or vial of something with purple liquid inside it poking out of Guiche's pocket. It was slowly beginning to fall out.

"Boy, that bottle is going to fall out of your pocket if you don't watch it."

Guiche suddenly looked a bit panicked as he quickly moved his hand down to the bottle to try and push it back in but it was too late. The bottle fell to the floor but surprisingly didn't shatter. Must be thick glass.

"Hey, isn't that Montmorency's perfume? So you're going out with her?"

"Yeah, she's the only one who would have purple perfume like that and it can't be wine since Guiche can't handle alcohol!"

Guiche looked much panicked as he smiled nervously. "W-what are you talking about? This isn't Montmorency's perfume! It's just… uhm…"

"Look, it even has her name on it!"

'DAMMIT!' Guiche shouted in his mind.

"Guiche-sama…"

The blonde haired boy turned around to face a girl with chestnut colored hair. Artorias realized that she was the one who Guiche was wooing last night. The girl started to cry as Guiche turns pale.

"I knew it… you and Miss Montmorency are…"

"Now wait for a moment Katie, this all a big misunde-"

"Guiche, who is this girl?"

'Oh Brimir, here we go.' Guiche thought in dread as he turns to the source of the voice, a blonde student with a very angry look on her face.

"Montmorency, this is a big misunderstanding! She's just somebody I accompanied to the forest of La Rochelle!"

"So you don't love me after all Guiche-sama?" Katie said with a trembling upper lip. Guiche's mind was racing for excuses to get him out of this mess.

"Come to think of it, were you not wooing her last night in the hallway?" Artorias said without much thought. If this boy was two timing, then as a man in a relationship, he has a duty to make sure the blonde fop gets his 'just-desserts'. Neither of which were on the trays in Artorias' hands.

Montmorency's anger finally exploded as she slapped Guiche angrily. "You two-timing jerk!" She stormed off in rage. Another slap was delivered by Katie as she too stormed off, only more in sadness than rage. Guiche stood there in shock before he started to rub his cheeks and turn a glare at Artorias.

"You! Why did you have to tell them that! This is your fault!"

The knight of Gwyn raised an eyebrow as he passed a cupcake to a student. "My fault? I was simply delivering justice. Two-timing is something someone must never commit in a relationship. They would have found out eventually anyway."

"What part of 'A rose blooms for all' do you not understand!?" The blonde fop yelled. Artorias decided to counter this by taking a page from his friend's book of insults.

"Rose? I believe pansy is the better term to suit you."

Laughter erupted from all the boys near Guiche as the noble fumed angrily.

"You…. You're Valliere's familiar, are you not? How much does she pay a person like you to pretend like that anyway?"

"Pay? I was summoned just like the rest of the familiars. I believe you saw the crater I made when I arrived."

Guiche shook his head with a chuckle. "You expect me to believe that lie? That thing that was summoned was killed by the teachers. Something that dangerous couldn't have been allowed to survive so they took it away and killed it. Valliere must have been desperate if she hired some abnormally tall person to pretend as her familiar."

'Did he not see me in my armor when I and Louise walked past him last night or is he being serious?' Artorias thought. "You are mistaken. I am the knight she summoned."

"Oi, Guiche, didn't his eyes glow or something in class? You sure this isn't him?"

"That was just a trick of the light or an after effect of the Zero's explosion."

Artorias started to get irritated when the blonde boy used his master's insulting title. "If you have nothing better to do other than insult my master then I shall take my leave. You should probably learn from your mistake and apologize to those two girls." The sky blue eyed man said as he walked away, trays in hand.

"Oi! I'm not done talking to you yet! How dare you turn your back when a noble speaks to you!"

"I have served and fought with nobles. You are not one." Artorias said without giving so much as a glance back. Guiche finally had enough and aimed his rose at the knight.

"That's it, I challenge you to a duel!"

_'Ooh, accept it, accept it!' _Ornstein's voice chanted.

"Denied." Artorias said as he passed another cake to a blushing female student. A lot of students were perplexed that this commoner could stand up to a noble so casually but that is no reason why they can't have cake while watching it.

"What's the matter? Too scared to fight a noble? You coward!" Guiche shouted tauntingly at the knight. Artorias' shoulders slumped a bit before setting the tray on a table and sighing.

"*sigh* Fine, just to teach you a lesson. Where and when?"

"Vestri hall, 15 minutes." With that, Guiche turned away and walked off with an elegant stride. Many students rushed to follow the blonde boy as Artorias sighed and popped his joints and cracked his knuckles.

"Are you mad?"

The knight turned to see Kirche, Tabitha and Louise walk up to him.

"He's a mage! You can't possibly beat him!"

"Believe me, I have seen enough deadly magic in my life. That boy can't possibly even hope to hurt me much, even if I was unarmored."

Tabitha stared at him and pushed up her glasses a bit. "Bluff?"

"Not a bluff. I've killed dragons with my great sword, how can he be more difficult than that?"

The blue haired girl's eyes widen noticeably when he said that. Artorias suddenly had an apologetic frown on his face as he remembered something.

"Oh, your familiar is also a dragon… do not fret, the dragons where I come from were ferocious and aimed at nothing but the eradication of humans. Your dragon looks and acts nothing like them as far as I have seen so do not worry."

"Do you really mean that you've killed dragons?" Kirche asks with an uneasy expression. She doesn't believe him.

"He has." But a certain pinkette does. Louise looks at Artorias with a determined face. "If you are really one of the strongest knights in your kingdom… prove it by defeating Guiche. I believe you. Do not disappoint me."

Artorias looked stunned for a moment before smiling. She won't be disappointed.

"First of all, where was my great sword placed?"

12 minutes later, Artorias walks to one end of the Vestri field, Guiche on the other end. Apparently, Colbert had stashed the great sword in his lab so he could try and study what it was made of. But obviously he could not figure it out.

Titanite is incredibly rare anyway. Especially twinkling titanite.

"Hmph, so you came after all. I was beginning to fear that you had tucked tail and ran." Guiche said arrogantly. Artorias stabbed his great sword in the ground in front of him.

"Of course, a knight never backs down from a challenge, even if it is from a whining child."

The blonde student shot him a glare for that insult and then quickly composed himself. "Just so you know, my runic name is Guiche the bronze. And as such…" The boy waves his rose wand, two petals falling to the ground. Suddenly the petals glowed and changed into a pair of armored golems in the shape of warrior women. One held a large great sword, nearly the same size as Artorias'' and the other had a mace and shield.

"These bronze Valkyries will be your opponents."

Artorias stared at the statues. It was quite impressive, there was plenty of detail on them and they looked tough but….

_'They're still shorter than you!" _Ornstein's voice howled with laughter.

…Okay, this was getting weird. Was he going crazy or something because hearing Ornstein speak in his head so randomly was very disturbing.

"Impressive. Now then, shall we begin?" Artorias said as he grabbed his great sword. He held it to the side in one hand as he prepared to charge.

"Very well, begin!" Guiche shouted and his Valkyries rushed forward.

'Too slow.' Artorias lunged at them with frightening speed as his blade impales one golem in the chest. Before the other can react, he slams his blade into the golem, its partner still impaled on the sword and the two are sent flying back to Guiche's side. The boy stands there slack jawed (as are most of the other students) before glaring and summoning more golems, though their design was not as well done as the first two. Now 6 in total, they charge Artorias and try to surround him.

The knight swings his great sword in an arc, the blade cutting into two of the golems. He follows up with a stab that impales one of the two and then he slams the impaled body into the other golem. One tries to stab him with a sword from behind but an arm with glowing blue runes grabs its hand. Artorias swings his sword, decapitating another golem before swinging his left hand up and slamming the golem he grabbed into another, the impact crushing both. The 6th one tries to take advantage of him being occupied by hurling a bronze spear at the knight.

Reaction? Artorias' head simply tilts to the right and the spear misses completely as his left hand shoots up and catches it.

'Something strange is going on… I feel…. Faster. Stronger. My instincts have never been so sharp in my life!'

The knight of Gwyn spins around to face the last Valkyrie golem and hurls the spear at it, the weapon running through the golem's head.

"A…awa….awawa….." Guiche was speechless at this sudden display of strength, speed and everything a warrior wishes to be. The knight turns to face him and hefts his great sword onto his shoulder.

"Are we done here?"

"Y-y-y…." Guiche was not the brightest student but he was the son of a war general. He knew when to retreat. He was no idiot.

"Y-ye…. N-not a chance!"

Ah, never mind. He is.

The blonde fop waves his wand once more, a large amount of petals falling to the ground. In the crowd, Montmorency's eyes widen as she recognizes this spell.

"Guiche! You haven't perfected that spell yet! Don't do it!"

Too late.

Instead of becoming separate Valkyries, they all clumped together and became an extremely large golem. It still had a female form but wore more sinister looking armor. Its height was double Artorias' and it held a broadsword in its right hand, a shield in the other.

"S-since when was Guiche able to do that!?" Louise shouted in shock. As far as she was concerned, he wasn't strong enough for that.

Sure enough, Guiche was panting, his willpower nearly depleted. He glared at Artorias before speaking again. "I had hoped I wouldn't need to show you this but it appears you need to be put in your place. It isn't perfect but it is my most powerful spell. Prepare yourself, familiar!"

Artorias stared at the golem. Slowly, his left arm started to shudder, darkness leaking from the glowing runes. 'Is this… fear? No, it is something else…. I feel…. Excited?'

**KILL**

'I need to-'**KILL'**-control myself. I'm not a battle junkie like Ornstein.'

_'Hey!'_

'Shut up, you're not real. Ornstein is still in Lordran.'

**Kill**

_'How would you know? You were crazy for days just because you couldn't beat one monster?'_

'He was the father of the abyss, how could I-'

_'Excuses, you were weak. You ARE weak. That is why you are hearing my voice, that is why you feel regret, that is why you were summoned by a girl with little to no talent in magic! Beca**use you are weak!'**_

Artorias' body started to shudder as more darkness streamed off his left arm. Not noticing this, Guiche commanded his giant golem to step forward and kick the knight.

"Guiche, stop!" Louise yelled as she saw what was happening to Artorias.

Too late.

The giant foot collided with Artorias' body, sending him flying into a tower and smashing against the wall, his body leaving an imprint as he was stuck there.

"S-see that! He's not so strong after all!" Guiche shouted. A few students were cheering his name, seeing him summon a large golem like that had made them admire him a bit.

Louise was glaring burning daggers at Guiche before she tried to run to the tower, until a hand stopped her. She snapped her head at Tabitha who just held her back. "What are you doing!? I need to get to him!"

"Look." The kuudere said as she pointed to the tower. The pink haired girl turned around and followed where the finger pointed.

Artorias was no longer stuck on the wall and was slowly climbing up the top of the tower, large amounts of darkness flowing off his left arm. He still held his great sword as he used it like a climbing pickaxe.

Guiche noticed that a few of the students were staring at something and he turned around to get a glimpse himself. The familiar was climbing the tower.

"W-what the!?" Guiche exclaimed. He commanded his golem to raise its shield in preparation for a suicidal plunging attack.

Once he reached the peak, Artorias turned to the crowd below, his now glowing electric blue eyes staring emptily at Guiche's golem. He hunched over a little before letting out a howl, just like when he first arrived.

"H-he IS that monster knight from yesterday!" A student shouted in fear as the others began panicking. Artorias bent his legs and then did his signature OGL (Olympic Greatsword Lunge). The giant golem stabbed it's sword at Artorias, hoping to hit him in midair. Artorias simply twisted his body in a rather unhealthy looking way and his feet found purchase on the flat of the golem's blade. Without delay, he ran down the blade, his greatsword held behind him as he rushed down the golem's arm and towards the head. The giant Valkyrie dropped its shield and tried to slap the knight off, it's effort proving futile as Artorias simply jumps over the hand and lands right on the golem's head. He stabs his greatsword into the giant's head, the blade running through it all the way to the hilt.

"Wh-what is he doing!?" Guiche shouted in dismay and fear. Artorias' left arm's runes were now glowing very brightly under the darkness as the knight pulled his fist back and thrust it into the golem's head. Something seemed to surge through the runes as the golem's head exploded into pieces, globules of darkness corroding the pieces as its dissolving body began to collapse on its knees.

Montmorency tried to get past the crowd as she shouted. "Guiche, look out!"

The blonde was snapped out of his scared and shocked stupor as he looked up to see the knight hurtling down towards him, his greatsword pulled back in preparation to stab. Louise's eyes widened as she realized that her familiar was trying to kill the idiot. "Artorias, stop!"

"G-GYAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Guiche screamed as Artorias fell. A cloud of dust and dirt kicked up and the two were blocked from sight. Louise stood still in fear before running towards the cloud, Tabitha, Kirche and Siesta following behind her.

The blue haired girl used her wind magic to blow away the dust as the fate of Guiche was revealed.

The blonde boy was on his back, his eyes clenched shut in fear. He slowly opened them when he realized he wasn't dead. The knight was looming above him, his greatsword stabbed in the ground, 5 inches away from Guiche's own head. His glowing blue eyes were now a bit dim as the glow from the runes on his left arm began to fade, the darkness disappearing.

"….I am not weak." Artorias said with spite to himself.

"N-n-n-no you a-are not!" Guiche quickly agreed with the knight's statement, though it wasn't directed at him.

Artorias stood up slowly and pulled his blade out of the ground before walking away. Guiche then promptly fainted on the spot.

"Arto-"Louise was cut off when Tabitha put a hand on her shoulder, shaking her head slowly.

"Needs time alone."

"But he…" The pink haired mage trailed off as she realized that her new friend was might be right. She looked at Artorias' figure before walking towards Guiche.

"Oi Louise, what are you doing?" Kirche called out. The pink haired girl only glanced back as she replied.

"My familiar did this. I might as well hold some responsibility and help move the idiot into the infirmary."

Kirche stared at Louise before smiling and following her. Siesta excused herself as she had work to do while Tabitha followed the two rivals to help the blonde fop, who currently was suffering the aftermath of using up an extremely large amount of willpower.

Deep in the forest near the academy, Artorias was blowing off some steam as he rushed through the thick foliage and cut down every random deadly creature that lunged at him. His arm was leaking darkness again but it felt a bit calmer. He didn't hear Ornstein's voice anymore either so that was a good thing.

'I can't believe I lost control so easily….. Am I still under Manus' influence even now?'

The knight leaped up and above the trees before he landed on a thick branch and he began to jump across the forest, branch to branch.

'How could I have let that happen? The boy was not a pleasant person but he did not deserve to die? I nearly killed him! An innocent human! I swore to Gwyn as a knight that I would protect all the humans!'

He cut down a random creature that looked like a large tiger with longer fangs and a lion's mane as he landed on the ground and leaped up in the air again, his left arm beginning to glow again.

"HRAAAAAAH!" He roared in frustration as he held his greatsword with both hands and slammed the blade into the ground, a thick blast of darkness erupting from it and covering the area in a 4 meter radius. Everything caught in the blast was slowly melting, dissolving and even beginning to grow crystalline as the darkness seeped into the round, coloring the grass pitch black.

Artorias panted as the runes died down and the darkness faded away from his arm. 'I…. am weak….'

The wind howled softly as if to try and cheer him up.

#Lordran, Undead Parish, Andrei's room#

The only sound in there was the sound of Andrei's hammer hitting the blade he was forging. Nobody knew how many weapons he had made in his life but it was a lot. Forging weapons was his life.

If you gathered all the weapons he made, you would nearly have enough to make your own Unlimited Blades Works. Getting the giant floating gears though will be tricky.

Ciaran was sitting on a step of the stairs in the room as she fiddled with her golden tracer. Gough and the Chosen Undead were in the Darkroot Garden, doing some hunting. The large knight of Gwyn was using the place to train the young servant of chaos in the way of the greatbow, by making him shoot at Mushroom people. Apparently, despite how nightmarishly powerful the adults were, there was a certain spot in their body that will immediately kill them if you hit it. The problem was, you had to hit it with a stabbing weapon, like a rapier or in this case a bow because the weak point is small and if you don't stab it directly in the middle, the mushroom will explode into spores and begin to spawn more of the fungal buggers.

Only the spores will immediately grow into adults.

Which is why Gough was training the Chosen Undead with a greatbow. If he could kill 10 of those mushroom people using their weak spot by shooting it with a greatbow, he would get a reward. Gwyn knows what it was.

"You know, if you stare at a blade for long enough, you can end up cutting your eyes." Andrei's voice broke the silence and snapped Ciaran out of your stupor. He dunked a fresh blade into water and turned to face her, his arms crossing over. "I'm amazed that a pair of knights of Gwyn even want to train the lad."

"Why? Because he is a servant of chaos? Even if he does serve the spawn of the witch, he still has a good heart, despite his odd behavior…" Ciaran said, remembering how she observed the Chosen Undead through their recent travels. Despite his happy go lucky attitude, he was incredibly precise. He knew when an enemy was going to attack and had memorized nearly all the attack patterns of most of the undead enemies they faced.

At times, he even showed a rather sadistic and insane attitude when he fought against large enemies like the large drake on the bridge to the Undead Parish.

For fucks sake, he jumped on its back and hacked at it while laughing!

And yet, he shows an incredibly gentle nature and was also incredibly easily flustered, especially when he was with Priscilla.

"Aye, and it's that heart that made him join the chaos servants in the first place." Andrei said as he nodded his head, a low chuckle escaping his lips."

Ciaran tilted her head, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Do you know why he joined them? Because of pity. He said that the daughter of the witch of Izalith, Quelaan or something, was dying. He said that her body was horribly sick and she was in near constant agony. Humanity apparently reduces the pain. That's why he joined the chaos servants. Because he pitied her and all her sisters."

Ciaran sat still as she digested this information. Joining the chaos servants out of pity? Was that even possible? "No wonder he is the Chosen Undead. Only the dumbest and most insane of people could be like him."

"Aye, true that. Yet I'm surprised he hasn't even met the Kingseeker."

Now Ciaran snapped her head at him, her eyes wide in surprise. "What? But according to the prophecy, the Chosen Undead must meet Kingseeker Frampt after ringing both the bells!"

"Lass…. He didn't even ring the second bell."

Ciaran was silent in shock. "But… he made it to Anor Londo! And the gate is open over there! It wasn't supposed to open until he rings the second bell!"

Andrei's body begins to shudder with laughter, confusing the assassin. "Do you want to know how he got into Sen's fortress then?"

"Obviously."

"He bloody climbed OVER it!" Andrei broke out in laughter as Ciaran slowly processed his words.

"He what?"

"He climbed over it! He climbed up the gate and then up the bloody walls! The gate's open now because he kicked the giant up there to wake it up and the bloody thing pulled up the gate without realizing that the bells weren't even ringing!"

The lord's blade was now getting a migraine. How can one idiot point out the most obvious way to get through the damn gate?

"Then why hasn't he rung the second bell?"

Now Andrei's face took on a grimmer look. "He doesn't trust Frampt."

"How can he not trust him? I mean, I don't trust him but he hasn't even met him! If the second bell wasn't rung, Frampt should still be asleep!"

Andrei just shrugged. "When I asked why he didn't ring the second bell, do you know what his response was? He said "I don't trust serpents. Especially ones with mustaches."

Ciaran felt a small laugh bubble up at the description. Frampt and his brother did have those odd looking mandibles that resembled mustaches.

"But… how could he know that if he's never even met him?"

Andrei shrugged again as he continued to work. "No bloody idea, but you want to know what I think? That he's a good lad with a kind heart, despite the strange insanity he develops when fighting large enemies. He's a chaos servant with the heart of a warrior of sunlight."

The sound of Andrei's hammer started up again as Ciaran stood up and walked over to him to take a look at his work. Amid the sound of the hammer, footsteps were heard as somebody descended from the stairs. A knight with a barrel helm and a hand drawn symbol on his chest.

"Speaking of a warrior of sunlight, here comes one right now." Andrei chuckled as the knight entered the room.

"Good evening Andrei! I see you have a gue-"The knight cut himself off and Ciaran could feel the knight staring at her. Andrei decided to make the introductions for them.

"Ciaran, meet everybody's favorite warrior of sunlight, Solaire of Astora."

Ciaran blinked a few times. 'Solaire? Astora? Why did those names ring a bel-Oh Gwyn's beard, you have to be joking.'

"Ah, look whose back. Boy, Solaire's here." Andrei said as the Chosen Undead and Gough entered the room.

"Yo, Solaire! What up my sunbro?" The oddly armored warrior exclaimed. He tilted his head in confusion when Solaire did not reply.

"Ciaran? Is something the matter?" Gough asked as he noticed that the assassin stood stock still. He jolted in surprise when Ciaran walked right over to Solaire and began to pull off his helmet. In one quick yank, the helmet was off, revealing the handsome face beneath. Solaire had mid length brown hair which was a bit shaggy and his eyes were a rich sapphire.

"Gough! This is Solaire! The one sent to Astora!"

Gough's eyes widened (though nobody saw it). "Solaire? Gwyn's boy? That isn't possible! It must be a coincede-"

"I saw Solaire throw a sunlight spear barehanded when we fought the gaping dragon by the way." The Chosen Undead exclaimed as he raised his hand like a student in the classroom. Solaire's face took on a panicked expression as he looked at the chaos servant.

"That was supposed to be a secret!"

"Solaire? Care to explain what in Izalith is going on here?" Andrei's voice boomed out. Solaire eyes darted between all of the room's occupants before he slumped and sighed out an uncharacteristic word for him to say.

"Fuck."

**Hey whats up! Third chapter here! It ended on a bit of a sad note but oh well, not everything is sunshine and rainbows.**

**I'm a bit disappointed that nobody completed my challenge yet but oh well.**

**I don't have much to say here actually so I'm signing off tonight. Cheers! I'll say more on the next chapter since I'm kinda busy!**

**This is Sakurada Kiritsugu, signing out.**

**Alright, I edited the chapter because I forgot about the extra part. Every chapter will have one but not all will be this long. Some may be as short as two paragraphs, maybe even one, and some may be this long. **

**Plus now I actually DO have something to say.**

**For starters, sorry for the delay on this chapter, I have been preoccupied by discovering Miku Miku Dance. I don't animate with it but I make some pictures that I try to make look awesome. With this program, I will probably make a comic or something. I've already made a meme or two.**

**If you want, check it out. My username of deviantart is Hazama15.**

**Second, a question from my challenge. Upon closer inspection, question number six is missing a few words so here is the complete version.**

**When training archery with Genghis Khan, Waver accidentaly hit what?**

**A. ****Death's face****B. ****The apple, dead in the center****C. ****A passing Kayneth**

**Don't ask how the question ended up so jumbled, I have no idea.**

**Next on the list, I am very proud of the reviews this fic has generated.**

**To DeathDemonWolf, I never knew that Artorias was left handed. Well, it IS a myth so I think I'll let that slide for this fic. Artorias might as well be ambidextrous. As for Manus forming in Artorias' mind, for me to know and you to find out. If he did, no surprise it would be in Ornstein's voice, that guy is one of the only ones who ever manages to get an annoyed reaction out of our good knight (in fandom anyway).**

**To KO (Is that short for Knock Out?), glad you liked the end. As for Tiffa's familiar…. Well, we haven't even gotten to the Saxe Gotha part yet. Hell, we haven't even met Foquet yet. I'll leave that to your imagination. **

**To Krulla Chief, I agree with you, this section doesn't get as much reviews despite the fantastic fan base. I mean come on, we've got guys like VaatiVidya and SunlightSword on youtube who make great videos on Dark Souls and the fans are all lovable, even the hackers. I mean come on, killing hackers is a pain in the ass in other games, but in Dark Souls? Killing hackers is a bloody sport in Dark Souls!**

**Not that I've killed one. My master has good internet connection but not good enough to let me play Dark Souls online. I have played online once though and I cosplayed as Artorias, with his greatshield and his cursed greatsword. I forgot who I fought, I think it was a female wearing Havel's helmet. Can't remember anything other than the fact that it was in the Depths and I had to solo against her and the bloody knight of fucking thorns Kirk. I got nothing against him but he is a pain in the ass to fight.**

**Still, whooped both their butts. If that player is reading this, my thanks for providing my first online battle.**

**If you're curious, my online name is UnfairerMocha65.**

**Right, getting back on topic, as for your question on Siesta's grandfather, I plan to make this world more influenced by Lordran than usual so yes, her great grandpappy will be from Lordran. **

**But who? If you have any ideas, feel free to PM them to me. Just PM them with an idea on what I should replace the dragon's raiment with. Whatever your suggestion is, it must be connected with Siesta's Lordranian great granddad. Example, the dragon's raiment is replaced by a dragon's tooth great hammer and Siesta's great grandfather was Havel.**

**Remember, that was an example.**

**Right, I've said my piece. Time to end this. My master is getting frustrated on how my addiction to fanfic and MMD is making me sleep less. I need to cut back a little on those before she revokes my right to use them. *nervous laugh* She's scary sometimes…..**

**Well, gotta go! This is Sakurada Kiritsugu, aaaaaaaannnnnnndddd, transition!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: When you got a voice in your head**

**Hi everybody! Sakurada Kiritsugu is here with another chapter! Sorry if this took me longer than usual, I had to deal with my research paper. One of the bad things about being a slave is that my master apparently insists that I go to the same school as her. So things get difficult with homework. Especially since we're both in senior high. Wow. It's been that long already…**

**Anyhow, lemme see how many reviews I got toda-ANDRASTE'S TITS! 60+ REVIEWS AFTER ONLY THREE CHAPTERS!? It's only been three chapters and I've already got more than half the amount of reviews I have in total for Fate/DEUS!? Damn that is awesome! **

**Solaire: The sun appears to be smiling on you today my friend! Praise the sun!**

**Yeah, wow, thanks guys!**

…**.Oh, it appears we have our first negative reviews. Without even explaining what's wrong about this fic. Hehehe, I was wondering when these guys would appear. Meh, to Izalith with them!**

**Oh, a reviewer actually stood up for me in his review? That's…. that's so nice! I kinda feel… honored? Wow, someone stood up for me! Little old me, the slave who writes fan fic! Hell, he/she stood for me twice? That's more than just nice! Thank you so much Eliteknight94! Lemme give you a cookie of kindness! I haven't given out any imaginary cookies for a while! **

**Well, I'm glad I got a lot of reviews! But as always, it is the quality, not the quantity.**

**But right now, I got both. WIN!**

**Right, Imma just get to the story now, I'll have a few things to say at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!**

#vestri court#

Louise sat on a bench on the edge of the Vestri court as she waited for Artorias to return. She, with the help of Kirche, Tabitha and even Montmorency, helped get the unconscious Guiche to the nurse station. As soon as they got him into one of the beds, the trio of new friends left the blonde fop and Montmorency to find the knight.

Tabitha decided to fly over the forest on her dragon familiar, Sylphid, to see if she can spot him, though it was unlikely that she could see anything below the thick foliage. Kirche decided to look around the school grounds, in case the knight went around the area instead of into the forest. After all, who would delve deep into such a dangerous place?

Wait, scratch that. A knight would. Especially one like Artorias.

"*sigh* He better not end up spending the night out there… I'll be damned if I have to wait here all night." Louise said with a grumble as she crosses her arms. Artorias had been gone all day. It was already dusk now.

Her brow was furrowed as she began to worry about her familiar. 'How could he have gone berserk like that? Was it because of that curse? I thought he said I freed him from it… but if he still has it then all I've accomplished in summoning him is dragging him away from home and stranding him here where he might end up killing someone innocent.'

Her thoughts were interrupted by the flapping of wings as Tabitha and Sylphid landed a few feet in front of her. The blue haired mage slides off her dragon and walks up to Louise.

"Anything?" The pinkette asks hopefully. Tabitha's response was the slow shake of her head.

"Trees too thick. Too dangerous to go lower."

"Oh… that's okay. You tried." Louise said in a sad tone as she stands up. "Come on, he wouldn't want us to wait out here all night. I need some sleep… and so do you from the looks of it."

Tabitha was indeed feeling her eyelids get heavy. She had been searching all around the forest on Sylphid for hours on end. Though she wasn't the one doing all the work, she had to strain her eyes and use wind magic on her ears to see if she couldn't see or hear the sky blue eyed knight.

"I'm fine. Just tired." The kuudere said as she turned to her familiar and nodded. The dragon squealed, something odd for a dragon to do, and took off to Brimir knows where. Probably to find dinner. Or just to play around. It was rather young after all.

"Sure, you're a ball of energy. Come on, you've earned a nap." Louise said as she walked into the hallway and headed to her room, Tabitha trailing behind her quietly.

The walk was silent as the two students headed back to get some sleep. Louise glanced at the blue haired girl as she walked. She was strange, wanting to be friends with her. If she wanted to be friends, why didn't she say that earlier? Before the summoning of the familiars?

'Could it be that she just wants to get close to my familiar? No, she can't be that kind of person… at least, I don't think she is.' Louise thought as she walked through the hallway. Suddenly, a door that she recognized as the laboratory door opened and a yawning Professor Colbert walked out.

"Hoah, time for bed… oh, hello girls. Why aren't you in bed yet?" Colbert asked as he closed the lab's door and locked it, both with magic and with a key.

"We were waiting to see if Artorias would return but… it appears that he won't be coming back tonight." Louise said with downcast eyes. Colbert took on a pitying look as he pushed up his glasses.

"I'm sorry to hear that… I'm sure he needs some time alone. He'll be back in the morning, you'll see. If there is one thing I can be sure about regarding that knight, it is that he is loyal." The bald teacher said with a comforting grin as he began to walk past them. "Good night girls, get some rest. It has been a busy day indeed."

"Good night." Tabitha replied to the professor as Louise just continued walking. Eventually, they make it to Tabitha's room, Louise's being just a little further.

"Well, good night Tabitha." Louise said with a small smile. Tabitha's lips formed a barely noticeable smile as she replied in kind before entering her room. Louise yawns as she walks to her room, briefly noticing some small amount of heat coming from Kirche's room.

'She must be in bed already with that salamander sleeping near the door as usual.'

Louise enters her room and begins to change into her nightgown. Her thoughts go back to the fight, when Artorias howled on the top of the tower.

'Such an angry noise… but so painful as well…' She mused as she crawled into bed and closed her eyes before slowly exiting the realm of the awake.

#deep in the forest near school grounds#

Artorias lumbered slowly through the woods, slashing his greatsword at whatever beast decided to try its luck. So far, none have stopped after seeing the trail of bisected bodies behind the knight.

"*sigh* I guess it is time to return now. Master must be asleep by now." The abyss knight muses as he turns around and begins to walk back through the path of destruction he weaved as he released his pent up frustration.

'I cannot let the abyss' power get the better of me. I will not let myself fall into rage again. I cannot. What kind of knight, no, what kind of person am I if I end up lashing relentlessly at every enemy, even the ones that don't deserve death?'

'_A crazy one for starters.' _Ornstein's voice pipes up.

'Gods, not you again. Just shut up and leave me alone.'

'_Can't, it's boring being stuck in your head. I can't do anything in here BUT annoy you. When life gives you lemons, chuck em at people.'_

_Artorias angrily slammed his left fist into a tree, effectively cracking it as the darkness begins to trail out of his runes again. 'I've had it. You obviously aren't going anywhere so I might as well get to the bottom of this. Who are you?'_

'_Ah, you finally decided to ask? Well, just so you know, I'm not Ornstein. I'm just using his voice because he's the closest person that has ever gotten to pissing you off.'_

'I think I already know that, since he's back in Anor Londo. Why don't you change your voice to what you really sound like?'

'_If you ins__**ist then sure.'**_

Artorias freezes as he hears the change in voice. He knew that voice. He loathed it with every fiber of his being. 'Manus?'

'_**Yes and no wolf boy. The real father of the abyss is, or at least was still in Lordran.'**_

'What do you mean 'was'?' Artorias asked in confusion. His fists trembled in rage when he heard the creature that caused all these problems speak in his mind.

'_**Can't you tell? He's dead.'**_

"WHAT!?" the knight exclaimed loudly, confusing and scaring away the animals that were about to attack him. No way where they going to attack a predator that was currently angry and surprised as hell.

'_**You couldn't even tell? He got killed by that runt that was hurling chaos fireballs at you. I don't know who he was but he was definitely not normal if he managed to kill Manus. Even if he had help.'**_

'Help? From who?'

'_**Your mutt, the blind archer and your girlfriend. I don't know how he did it but he got them to help him rip Manus apart. And I am not exaggerating, he ripped our father of the abyss apart with a Darkwraith's sword. Damn thing was even covered in Gwyn's own lighting blade miracle.'**_

Artorias felt a surge of pride when he heard that Sif, Gough and Ciaran had a hand in Manus' death. Though he felt concerned about hearing of this strange warrior who killed the beast. Throwing chaos fireballs? Only the Witch of Izalith and her daughters of chaos could do that, unless they taught it to others.

'Then who in Gwyn's name are you? And what do you mean 'our' father of the abyss? That abomination is no blood relative of mine.'

'_**Not by blood, but by soul. Those who become tainted by the abyss are marked as Manus' children forever. And I call him my father because I am born from his power.'**_

'What do you mean? Just get to the point already!'

'_**Oh for the love of-I'm your freaking inner demon, happy? I'm the source of your power! Whenever you use the abyss' power, I'm the one giving it to you! I was born the moment Manus corrupted your soul and I awoke when he died!'**_

Artorias stiffens. 'Then do yourself a favor, keep the power. I do not want it.'

'_**Can't do that, you'll take it anyway unless you learn how to control it. Er, not that I'm gonna tell you how.'**_

'I should have expected as much. So you are telling me that I can't get rid of you?'

'_**Yep.'**_

'And unless I can control my power, I will go berserk again?

'_**Yep.'**_

'And you will continue to annoy for the rest of my life?'

'_**Yep yep.'**_

'Gwyn's beard, I think I'm going to get a migraine.' The knight groaned mentally at this new revelation. Looking up, he realizes that he had walked all the way back to the Vestri court. Shrugging, he walks down the hallway to Louise's room.

'_**What, going back to the brat's room?'**_

'Of course, she is my master. I should not keep her worried. Now be quiet.'

'_**Told you, not gonna happen. And what is her deal anyway? Her magic has a weird feel to it.'**_

'What, you think it has something to do with why her spells always fail?' Artorias asks his dark counterpart, briefly realizing that he is conversing with the source of his problems.

'_**Don't know, don't care. All I know is that it feels like the abyss but… reversed.'**_

'Reversed? You mean it is light instead of darkness?'

'_**Nah, I meant it's… let's say its density.'**_

'That makes no sense at all.' The knight argued mentally as he quietly enters the room and closes the door silently. He sneaks over to Louise's bed to make sure she's asleep before walking to his hay pile and laying down on it.

'_**Well, if the abyss feels thick and heavy, her magic feels like the opposite. It's like there's nothing there at all. Just… blank.'**_

Little did the inner demon know, that wasn't too far from the truth.

Artorias feels his eyelid get heavy as he yawns and begins to sleep.

'If you dare give me nightmares or try to enter my dreams just to annoy me, I will find a way to castrate you, inner demon or not.'

'_**Fine, fine, yeesh. Who'd wanna look at your dreams anyway?'**_

_**#the next day#**_

Louise awoke to somebody gently shaking her shoulder. Her eyes slowly opened and as they focused on the figure shaking her, she realized it was Artorias.

"Artorias! Are you okay, you've been gone all day and night yesterday and we went looking for you but you wouldn't show up and-"

The knight of Gwyn chuckled as he held up a hand to interrupt his master. "I assure you, I am quite alright master. I just needed some time to cool my head. I have recently come across some information that, despite its contents, shed some light on my curse. I will try not to walk off so suddenly again."

Louise stared at him in disbelief before smiling and nodding happily. Artorias slowly stood up and began to walk out the door before turning his head back towards the pinkette. "I shall wait outside so you may change your clothes in peace. Hurry now, breakfast is starting."

The pink haired mage looked down at her state of dress (Which was very messy and completely unbuttoned) before blushing hard and covering herself with blankets. Artorias chuckles and closes to door, making sure to stand a good distance away from it in case she slams it open like yesterday. He notices that Tabitha was standing in the hallway, reading a book as usual.

"Waiting for Miss Zerbst?" Artorias asked the blue haired bookworm. Tabitha shakes her head and replies in her usual monotone voice.

"Still asleep."

"Then you are waiting for master?"

The kuudere nods before turning her eyes to Louise who just exited her room, now fully dressed. "Good morning."

Louise smiles at Tabitha and replies in kind, her smile being unusually radiant this morning, as Tabitha notices. Must be because Artorias is back. Without further delay, the trio walks down the hallway and towards the dining hall. Along the way, a few students saw the group and immediately moved out of the way when they saw Artorias. The knight sighs with a hint of sadness.

"It appears they have labeled me as something to fear."

'_**Good, now they won't try and piss you off again.'**_

"Shut up."

The two girls stare at the knight who appeared to be glaring at thin air.

"Umm, Artorias? Who are you talking to?" Louise asks with confusion in her voice. The knight shakes his head and smiles sheepishly at her.

"A-ah, tis nothing master, I was talking to myself. Ahahahah…."

'_**Pfft, that's for damn sure.'**_

'Oh go stick a broadsword where the sun does not shine.'

#minutes later, dining hall#

The situation was not improving in the dining hall. People sat even further away from Louise and Artorias. The only one actually sitting with them was Tabitha. They ate breakfast in silence as people stared and whispered.

"*sigh* I knew this would happen. If it is alright with you master, I would like to see how things are in the kitchen. I will return shortly." Artorias said as he stood up. With a nod from Louise, he left the table and headed for the kitchen.

The kitchen was bustling with activity as usual, though most activity stopped when Artorias entered the room. After a roughly a second of silence, the large chef Marteau stepped forward with a large grin on his face. "And here he is, the man with the devil's luck, our wolf!"

Artorias's eyes widened in some surprise as a few of the chefs and maids clapped a bit and came forward to apparently praise him. "Marteau, what is going on?"

"Everybody has heard about it! You defeated some snot nosed noble brat with nothing but a large sword! They say you didn't even use armor! You have done us common folk a great service by putting that particular brat in his place!" The well rounded chef says happily before giving Artorias a friendly slap on the back.

"I see…. But why did you call me 'our wolf'?"

"Ah, it is because of little Siesta that you got that particular nickname! She said that when you stood atop the tower, you howled like a wolf! Hence, your nickname!"

Artorias turned his head towards the maid who stood a bit further off. She blushed in embarrassment when Marteau revealed the origin of Artorias' new title.

"Or at least that's the short version of it!" The large chef added after a pause.

"Oh? What would the full version be?"

"She said, and I quote, 'He howled like a lonely and injured wolf, so badly beaten and damaged by the cruelty that is life, it fought tooth and nail to preserve its pride, as it desperately searches for its one true lov-"

"M-M-M-MARTEAU!" Siesta howled in embarrassment as she beat her fists on the large man's stomach. The chef simply laughed jovially as Artorias stared at the maid in some confusion.

"You certainly have a…. descriptive way of describing one howl, Miss Siesta."

"I-i-i-ignore what he just said! It was a lie! He's still a bit hung up on the cooking rum he had this morning so he isn't thinking straight!" Siesta said quickly with a red face.

"What? I didn't drink any-"*WHAM*

Marteau was cut off as a frying pan that mysteriously appeared in Siesta's hands collided with his face and knocked him out cold.

"O-oh no, Marteau! You've fainted from drinking to much! Lets get you to the nurse station!" Siesta said as she quickly dragged the large man away. Artorias blinked several times as he processed what just happened.

"I think I will leave now."

'_**Yeah, you should.'**_

As he walked back into the dining hall, he noticed somebody rushing towards him. This person was a male student with blonde hair and a rose in his hand.

Guiche.

The young Gramont child stood still in front of the knight, who crossed his arms and stared at the boy. Several students whispered amongst each other, as if expecting another battle to break out. Louise and Tabitha were approaching from their table and were walking towards the two.

"…..Well? What is it?" Artorias asked bluntly. The next thing that happened caught him and everyone else off guard.

Guiche knelt down and slammed his own head to the floor, effectively drawing some blood.

"I AM SORRY!"

"…Pardon?"

"I AM SORRY FOR INSULTING YOU WRONGLY AND ANGERING YOU! YOU ARE CLEARLY THE BETTER WARRIOR AND I WILL ACCEPT ANY PUNISHMENT YOU WISH TO GIVE ME!"

The room was silent. Absolutely silent.

Guiche was bowing his head, to the point of bleeding, to a familiar. Granted, the familiar was a knight.

"….This is… unexpected. I would not have expected you of all people to lower your head to me after being defeated."

"I am the son of the Gramont family. Our family has a military history and is well versed in war. My father and brothers taught me to always lower your head to the better soldier if he defeats you in a duel. I will honor what they taught me."

Artorias stood there stunned for a moment before smiling and chuckling. 'They taught you well. Very well Guiche of the Gramont family, I shall now hand out your punishment."

'_**Ooh, make him do something embarrassing!'**_ The inner demon chanted with glee. Guiche bit his lips as he awaited his punishment. He came here prepared for this.

"The first thing you must do…."

'Here it comes….' Guiche said mentally as he prepared himself for the harsh and grueling-

"Is so apologize to both the girls you cheated on. Apologize to them BOTH at the same time."

"Eh?" Guiche mumbled out as his mind processed what Artorias said. It wasn't horrifyingly cruel punishment. It wasn't torture. Granted, it was definitely something that would leave him a slap or two but that was about it.

'Wait, he said 'first'? There's more?'

"The second is for you to train and get stronger. That duel we had only ended because I lost control. There is no honor in a duel like that. Someday in the near future, I would like to battle you while in control of myself." Artorias said with a smile. Guiche stared at the knight in disbelief.

"T-that's it?"

"Yes. While you are still young, you have the soul of a warrior, boy. We are people who were meant to take to the battlefield. Your place is not chasing skirts. It is fighting. You have the potential. Use it right."

With those last words, Artorias walks away and towards Louise and Tabitha, who stared at him in awe. Guiche sat there for a few moments before immediately standing up and bowing again to Artorias.

"THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

Artorias simply waved it off and said "Tis just a knight's code of honor. Think nothing of it."

#Old Osmond's office#

"Sir!"

"UWAH!"

Professor Colbert exclaimed (The 'sir' part.) as he rushed into the principal's room, only mildly surprised that the bearded man wasn't trying to molest his secretary.

If anything, Old Osmond was simply laying back in his chair and smoking his pipe while humming a happy tune. It was moments like these that Ms. Longueville enjoys because the old man is too busy humming to himself to take advantage of his familiar and use it to peek at her panties.

That happy little moment was ruined when Colbert rushed into the room so suddenly that Osmond lost his balance out of surprise and fell backwards in his chair.

The green haired secretary did her best not to burst out laughing. 'Serves you right you old pervert.' She mentally cackled.

"Good Founder, are you alright!?" Colbert exclaimed in shock as he rushed around the table to help up the old principal, who now was rubbing the back of his head.

"I am quite alright. Just a bruise or two. Was there something you needed… err…? Who are you again?" The old man said as he stroked his magnificent beard.

"It's me, Colbert!"

"Ah, yes. I lost my memory for a moment. The only thing I remembered was the color of Ms. Longueville's panties today. White again sadly. Ahh, why does she never wear bla-"

He was cut off when his secretary's shoe collided with his nose. The woman pulled out a spare from her drawer, in which she keeps spare shoes, books and etc in case she needs a weapon against the pervy old man, and puts it on before returning to work.

"Hrm, I was wondering where she kept those. I better make it my business to empty her supply when I get the chance." Osmond grumbled as he rubs his sore nose. "Now then, was there something you needed?

"It's Artorias sir! He has returned!"

Old Osmond's eyes gain a serious expression as he picks up his pipe and begins to smoke it again. "And?"

"And? We should inform him and Miss Valliere about the runes!" The bald man exclaimed.

"So early? Why don't we just give him time to rest? It's only been a less than 5 days since he got here, I say we let him get accustomed to our world first before we get him accustomed to old legends." The old man says as he takes another puff from his pipe as he pulls his chair back up and sits down comfortably.

"Are you sure?" The fire mage asks with a confused expression. "Wouldn't it be better if he knew now before he goes on a berserk rampage again?"

"No, let's give him time. Say…. A week or so. I'm sure he will be able to find a way to control his powers in that amount of time."

"How can you be so sure?"

Old Osmond grins as he takes a long puff from his pipe.

"It's a matter of faith."

-LINE BREAK MOFOS-

A week had passed since the Guiche incident. Artorias became a rather well known, well respected and well feared individual during that week. Several times, students tried to challenge him just to test their mettle for no good reason or simply because they refuse to believe that a noble was beaten by a common knight.

Each and every challenger went down. There were no duels, only humiliating one sided beat downs.

Guiche sported a pair of slap marks on his cheeks that lasted for a day and a half, courtesy of Montmorency and Katie. Despite that, they forgave him already but refuse to talk to him for a few days. Montmorency still likes Guiche of course, while Katie simply tries to search for a different person to love.

Louise, Tabitha and Kirche got closer as friends during that week, studying together and eating together. Kirche still enjoys teasing Louise of course, but it is all in good fun.

"Hey, Artorias?"

"Yes master?"

Louise was sitting next to Artorias under a tree near the Vestri court. The azure scarfed knight was busy polishing his armor, taking great care in how he handles the armor as if it was a delicate vase. He finishes working on the breastplate and is now polishing the armor on the helmet of his hood.

"Why is your helmet shaped like a bird?"

The knight of Gwyn smiles and closes his eyes in nostalgia. "Back when I used to wear the basic silver knight armor, Gwyn acknowledged my efforts and my achievements, granting me the right to join the knights of Gwyn and get my own personal design of armor. Back then, the only members were Ornstein and Ciaran."

Louise stares at him curiously as Artorias' features soften as he recalls the fond memory.

"That was the first time I met her."

_#flashback!#_

_Artorias, clad in casual clothes, stood in front of the giant blacksmith in Anor Londo. He was finally getting the chance to design his own armor._

_He will soon be knighted to become an official member of the knights of Gwyn. All thanks to his latest achievement._

_He and a large squadron of silver knights were tasked with transporting a large group of injured knights and civilians back to Anor Londo, away from the battlefield. But in the middle of the road, a number of wyverns being led by one of those blasted dragons attacked the convoy._

_Artorias and his fellow knights held off the beasts as the convoy escaped. As the dragon abandoned its wyvern followers and rushed straight at the convoy, ignoring the knights, Artorias jump onto its body and managed to climb to the top of it. He stabbed the beast in the spine with his greatsword, though it did nothing but annoy the dragon. It became enraged and made numerous attempts to attack Artorias, who simply held on for dear life. When its body bucked upwards, Artorias took a gamble and pushed off the beast's back, launching himself into the air. His greatsword in hand, the knight drove his blade into the dragon's skull as he came back down, killing it, if only temporarily as the dragons were immortal for a reason. Luckily, he and the rest of the convoy managed to return to Anor Londo before it revived itself._

_That was not the first risky attempt at saving lives he made. Countless times he had tried to minimalize casualties by using himself as bait. Sometimes he would come out victorious, his skills with a greatsword being above the average silver knight's, thus saving his life countless times in a deadly skirmish against wyverns._

_Other times he would be forced to run like hell as soon as everyone else was safe. He gained the nicknames 'Live bait, suicidal silver, good guy Arty and Mister Nice' early on after the first 13 gambles._

_Despite the danger of getting himself killed, he would risk his life for the sake of others. That noble way of fighting and his honed skills on the battlefield made him worthy of joining the knights of Gwyn, a personal task force with missions assigned by the God of Sunlight himself._

_Currently, he was admiring the sketch of the armor he designed for the giant blacksmith to make proudly. It was built to be light, sturdy and to give him full body freedom. There was one thing missing though…._

"_I still need a design for a helmet…" The knight mused as he kept thinking up various designs for helmets, yet none of them seemed to fit with his armor._

"_Armor need helmet. No helmet, no good. Arrow hit head, you die. Helmet important. My backside itchy." The giant blacksmith (Who I shall name Golgota because he deserves a name) said as he scratched his rear end before resuming his work on the armor's breastplate. Gotta work that twinkling titanite good._

"_I know, I know…. I just can't seem to think of a good design…"_

"_Well you had better hurry up."_

_Artorias yelped in surprise and spun around to face the intruder. The person was none other than Lord's blade Ciaran._

"_A-ah, madam Ciaran, I did not see you there."_

"_Nor did I expect you to. Otherwise I wouldn't be much of an assassin now would I?" Ciaran replied with a hidden smirk appearing behind her mask. She steps closer to him and looks at the sketch in his hand, Artorias lowering it to her eye level so she could actually see it._

"_Hmm, you should consider being an artist instead. It would be safer and we won't have to worry about you doing all those crazy stunts out there."_

"_Worried about me are you?"_

"_No, but it would be a shame to lose a good knight."_

_The silver knight laughs sheepishly at that. Ciaran looks at the design intently before gently tugging on it. "May I?"_

"_Of course."_

_After handing the sketch over to Ciaran, she walks over to Golgota's huge desk, which was low enough for her to actually reach over, and picks up a blunt piece of charcoal. She quickly sharpens it with a small knife and then begins to draw at a furious pace._

'_Something tells me she takes art just as seriously as her work…' Artorias mentally sweat drops._

"_Done!" Ciaran walks over to Artorias and hands over the sketch, the armor now sporting a rather unique looking helmet. It was a hood with a metal headpiece above it in the shape of an eagle, a horsetail coming out from the back of the helmet. The hood was shaped so that it would shroud one's entire face._

_It was actually drawn in the same way an 8 year old would with a piece of crayon but it still managed to get the point across._

"_This is… actually quite a nice design. A helmet and a hood…. I never would have imagined something like this." Artorias says with admiration. He could feel Ciaran smiling from behind her mask._

"_The helmet is in the shape of an eagle because they are noble and proud creatures. They fly high in the sky and are great hunters. They are also fast and relentless."_

"_So not a lot like me."_

"_Well, you're noble enough. You just need to work on the relentlessness."_

_The two share a small laugh after that. Ciaran begins to walk out of the room as she speaks again. "That was rather refreshing, I would enjoy conversing with you again sometime, but I'm afraid I have work to do."_

"_Ah, of course. It was a pleasure speaking with you, madam Ciaran." Artorias smiles kindly at the assassin, who briefly looks back before continuing her exit._

"_The pleasure was all mine."_

_#end flashback#_

Louise hums thoughtfully after hearing the story. "So you were once just an ordinary knight in your world."

"Indeed. I became who I am today purely through hard work and fighting for the good of those whose lives were in danger."

'_**And a deal with the devil?' **_Artorias' inner Manus pipes up.

'Yes, thanks for reminding me about that.' The knight mentally grumbles in a sarcastic fashion, his irritation increasing when the inner demon simply laughs at his reply.

Despite how irritating it is to hear the mental being, it was actually rather helpful to learn about his…. Abyssal powers and how they work from it. He can actually fight without going berserk now, so long as his mind is clear from negative emotions such as rage. It was also just a series of meditation exercises and a simple matter of accepting the abyss as part of his own soul.

Doesn't mean he has to like the extra passenger the powers comes with.

'_**You sure you don't want to learn how to use the abyss as a weapon? It could be fuuuuuun.'**_

'And I couldn't care less.'

"Ahem."

Artorias looks at Louise, who has a worried look on her face. "Is there something on your mind?"

"N-no, my mind is quite clear. Never been better."

'_**Bullshit.'**_

"Are you sure? Your face looked rather troubled. It looked something like this." Louise says as she scrunches up her face in a scowl, her brow being incredibly furrowed and her eyes narrowed almost to the point of squinting. At this point, Artorias puts a hand over his mouth as he tries to hold in a laugh. His inner demon on the other hand has no physical appendages, so it burst out laughing anyway.

"Hey, what's so funny!?" Louise yells as her face returns to normal.

"N-n-nothing milady. Absolutely nothing at a-hahaha-all…" The knight replies while half chortling. This just aggravates the pinkette further as she pouts and crosses her arms in that classic annoyed tsundere style.

"…Hey Artorias?"

"Y-yes milady?"

"Why don't you fix your sword? It looks really badly damaged and you never even polish it."

The knight of Gwyn sighs in response and looks towards the school building. "Much like my armor, my greatsword is mostly made out of titanite and was crafted and forged by a giant blacksmith, the best in all of Lordran. He is probably the only one who can fix it now, unless I can find another blacksmith of adequate skill and gain access to a strain of titanite ore. Or, and this has a very small chance of happening, I happen to come across a titanite bug."

"Titanite bug?"

"It is a peculiar creature that resembles a lizardish-insectish crossbreed. I believe it looks like a beetle of sorts. Anyway, if a person happens to kill one, they can salvage a special type of titanite ore from the creature known as 'twinkling titanite'. It is the rarest of all titanite ores and is used to enhance the quality and durability of the best weapons and armor, mine included. Unfortunately, I doubt we will be able to find one of those here and even if we did, it would probably turn invisible at the sight of me.

Louise frowns and tilts her head in slight confusion. Bugs that turn invisible and have a rare ore in their bodies? This made her very curious about the other types of creatures in his world. So far, he's only told her about the dragons, the city of Anor Londo, the four kings of New Londo and the four lords; Gwyn, Seath, The Witch of Izalith and Nito.

She still has a hard time believing the existence of a gigantic skeleton wearing a huge black shrub as clothing and skeletons as jewelry.

But back to the more important matter.

"So, how many more times do you think you can use your sword before it finally breaks?"

"Now now, it may be damaged but it is still made of titanite. I'll wager that it would survive another 15 battles, maybe a war or two before it finally shatters."

"So you may need a spare weapon?" Louise asks with a rather excited expression. Artorias lifts an eyebrow at her sudden change in behavior.

"Well, I guess I could use a-"

"Perfect! I'm going to take you shopping today so you can get a new sword!" The pink haired mage declares with conviction as she rockets up from her place on the grass and thrusts a fist into the air. "Pack your armor away because we are going for a ride!"

The knight is slightly speechless (if slightly speechless is even acceptable as a phrase) as he stares at his master in confusion. "I appreciate the sentiment but what brought on this sudden excursion?"

Louise goes a bit red from embarrassment as she twiddles her thumbs together. "Well…. As your master, I am supposed to take care of you and provide you with the best possible resources and comfort items. Ever since I summoned you though, I haven't managed to get you anything you could actually use."

"You got another bed moved into your room for me to sleep in."

"Yes but that's a minor thing. So today, I will purchase a weapon for you, any weapon at all, just to show you that as your master, I can take care of my familiar's needs." She explains as she puffs up her chest in pride.

A chest which was immediately fondled by a certain tan red-head who snuck up behind the pinkette.

"Now now Valliere, you can't thrust your chest out if you have nothing to sho- Oh what do you know? They're actually bigger than a few days ago!" Kirche exclaims as she gropes the flat chested girl.

"K-K-K-KIRCHE! S-STOP MOLESTING ME!" Louise wails as she desperately tries to break free from the tan girl's grip.

"Pervert." A certain blue haired girl with glasses promptly accuses Kirche as she walks towards the group. Artorias jerks his head towards Tabitha in surprise. Once again, the girl managed to sneak up on him without even alerting his instincts.

"Aww, come on Tabitha! Don't tell me you aren't interested in Louise's growth!"

Tabitha simply turns her head away, a slight tint of pink on her cheeks as she opens her book and begins to read. Artorias sighs and continues to polish his helmet as he tries to ignore the ruckus the two apparent 'friends' were making.

'And it was such a peaceful morning.'

'_**Nothings peaceful with these three around.'**_

#an hour or two later#

The trio of mages and the familiar are walking through the streets of Tristain's city. The streets were bustling with activity, vendors selling fruits, people walking about, children lounging near walls or chasing each other down alleyways and elderly looking men and women sitting on benches with serene grins on their faces.

"Ahh, it feels so good to walk in the big city…" Kirche says with a sigh of satisfaction as she proudly walks the streets in a manner that makes her bust bounce with every step, gaining a lot of viewers as she walks past the young men in the streets. Just as planned.

"This is big? Your standards for big are quite…. Miniscule." Artorias comments offhandedly as he looks at all the buildings around them. Louise looks at the knight with a glower.

"That just because you come from a city where the buildings are taller than castles. Damn giant…." Louise mutters the last two words in frustration, gaining a chuckle from Artorias and a giggle from Kirche. Tabitha simply grins quietly from behind her book.

Suddenly, a young boy bumps into Louise and then Artorias, before running off down into an alleyway. Louise glares at the retreating boy before realizing that there was something missing.

"My money pouch! It's gone!" Louise exclaims in a panicked voice as she fumbles around her clothes to try and find it."

"That boy must have been a pickpocket!" Kirche says as she prepares to chase the boy down.

"Indeed, but a very poor one."

The knight familiar raises his hand, a pair of money pouches being held between his fingers. Louise looks at the pouches in confusion before pointing at one of them. "That's mine! But how?"

"He tried to pickpocket me but he realized I had no money so he went off. In his hurry, I took the liberty of confiscating the stolen goods. The other pouch is probably from another victim."

Kirche begins to laugh hard in amusement at this. "Oh Founder, the thief was counter-pickpocketed! How on earth did you manage that?"

"Trust me, when you have professional assassin as your lover, you need to be prepared for every trick and prank she'll pull. First time she stole my money for fun, it took me half a day to realize. Now, I'm ready for anything."

The knight begins to tell the tale of the many pranks Ciaran pulled on him as they all walk down the street. Elsewhere, a very puzzled pickpocket is searching himself in confusion for the money he stole.

After roughly half an hour of walking, they finally made it to the weapons store. It was rather old and dirty looking but that was to be expected. It was in the dirtier corner of the city. The group enters the store, an elderly man smoking a pipe sitting behind a counter noticing their arrival with a raised brow. He eyed the group curiously before noticing the pentagram on the girls' mantle buttons. The symbol of a mage.

"Ah, noble ladies! I can assure you, there is nothing illegal here! This is just a simple arms shop, nothing strange here!"

"We're customers." Tabitha states bluntly as she looks around the room. The old man brightens up.

"Ah, noble customers! A bit strange but who am I to judge?"

"What do you mean strange?" Kirche asks in confusion. The old man spent half a second staring at her cleavage before answering.

"Well…. Nobles use wands and knights use swords and such. Furthermore, you're all young, except for that big fellow over there." He says, gesturing towards Artorias, who was busy scanning the weapons on the wall.

"Well, that big guy is the one who is in need for a weapon. We're just here to accompany him." Kirche explains as she takes stock of a very intricate suit of armor.

"Ah, that makes sense! Well then sir, do you have a preference? I've got swords, maces, spears and don't get me started on the shields!"

"Well, I'm looking for a greatsword. What is the biggest blade you have here?" Artorias asks as he holds a medium sized falchion, weighing it.

"Well, we have this bastard sword that recently came in from Germania. It's already polished, sharpened and ready for its first battle!"

Artorias lifts the bastard sword up with his left hand and weighs it. His runes light up slightly as the information about the weapon pours into his mind. A useful effect the runes gave that he discovered when he picked up his greatsword after learning not to go berserk in battle.

"It is…. Adequate. But I am looking for something bigger and if possible, much sharper. Do you have anything of the sort?" Artorias said before putting the large blade on an empty spot on the shelf near him. The old shopkeeper furrows his brow in thought before going through a door behind the counter.

"Hang on a minute, I know I've got something like that somewhere-AHA!" with that exclamation, he comes back out, hauling a greatsword. It was roughly as long as Artorias was tall and was as wide as a dinner plate and half as thick. The blade had a large hole near where the hilt should be. It had a classic brown leather grip that was long enough for Artorias to wrap both his hands around. Only one thing made it look different.

The blade was serrated on one side. Sharp saw like teeth run across one side of the blade, the other side being perfectly blunt (it's kind of hard to explain. Think of Zabusa's sword from Naruto, but serrated like a saw.).

Even without touching it, Artorias could already tell one thing. This was a weapon made to kill. And kill messily.

"I made this design one day out of pure boredom you see, because I've always wanted to see an enemy get killed by a weapon like this. For anyone strong enough to lift this, the serrated blade will pierce armor and scale, if not saw through it completely. If the opponent even manages to survive getting slashed by this, he'll probably bleed to death from the brutal wound. If you can lift it that is." The old man then walks back into the door and comes out with a large leather harness and strap to keep the blade on Artorias' back. "The blade is really sharp but you can use the hole to tie the strap around to keep it on your back.

Artorias stares at the sword with a bit of anxiety. "It looks a bit evil-"

'_**TAKE IT, TAKE IT, TAKE IT, TAKE IT, FOR THE LOVE OF GWYN'S BEARD, JUST TAKE IT!'**_

"-but I'll take it. How much?" Artorias continues to shut his inner demon up.

"Well it is just a prototype so it will be reasonably cheap. 250 gold coins should be enough."

"Wow, that's pretty cheap." Louise comments as she examines the blade, poking a tooth just to see how sharp it is. She yelps and jerks her hand back in surprise as she feels blood come out of the cut she just got from the sharp edge.

"Hey shorty, lesson number one in handling swords is don't touch the sharp edge!" A male voice called out.

"WHO JUST CALLED ME SHORT!?" Louise yells in fury at the sudden insult. Artorias and the other two look around the store, failing to find the source of the voice. The sky blue eyed knight notices the shopkeeper facepalm and groan.

"Of all the bloody times he had to wake up…. Shut up Derf! You're upsetting my customers!"

"Oh yeah? Why don't you just stuff that pipe in your nether regions you old fart! That's what you get for keeping me in here!"

"Don't make me melt you down you rusty piece of crap!"

"HAH! Just try it, not even the lava of a volcano can handle this piece of ass-I mean steel, yes, steel, that's what I meant, steel. Ahem."

Tabitha walks over to a barrel full of old swords and notices that one of them is rustier than the others and was moving. She picks it up and holds it to her eye level. The blade was roughly the length of a large broadsword, though with a thinner blade.

"Oh hey there cutie! What's your name? Mine is Derflinger but you can call me Derf or Derflinger-Sama!"

The group of four stares at the blade. Its pommel moved up and down with every word, like a mouth. Tabitha suddenly gained a glint in her eyes that was full of curiosity as she looked the blade over and practically examined ever single edge of it.

"Urmm, not that I mind being checked out by a cute girl but what are you doing?" The blade known as Derflinger asks in confusion.

"Sword. Talking. Strange. Study. Analyze. Experiment. Research." Was all that Tabitha said before continuing her observation, barely paying attention to how the sword somehow tensed when she said 'experiment'. Louise looked at the groaning shopkeeper in confusion.

"A talking sword?"

"Aye, that damn piece of crap talks. I got him years ago from some bloke who wanted to sell that rusty piece of scrap metal for 100 gold. He said it was antique, and I believe that from all the rust the blade has and how convincing the man's speech was. But I didn't know he'd be so bloody annoying…."

"Hey! I have a wonderful personality! I'm cheerful, kind, and funny! Hell, I know every dirty joke in the world!"

"Oho, this I've got to hear." Kirche says with a perverted grin as she steps closer to examine the blade. Somehow, she could suddenly feel the sword looking at her with its nonexistent eyes.

"Why hello-hohoholy moly, those things are huge!"

It doesn't take a genius to know what Derflinger was talking about.

"Why thank you, I'm rather proud of these two!" Kirche declares with pride as she crosses her arms, further emphasizing the size of her assets. Louise glares at the large mammary glands before turning to Artorias.

"Have you ever seen a talking sword before?"

"In all my life, I have seen strange things. Men throwing lightning bolts, dragons of stone, a giant skeleton, a dragon with tentacles for hind legs and a drunk Ornstein in a dress (don't ask), but never have I seen something like this." Artorias says in awe. He walks over to Tabitha and kneels down so he can look closer at the sword.

"Yo, whats u-oh good lord, what happened to you?" Derflinger asks in surprise the moment Artorias appears.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Pal, you have way too much darkness in your soul to still be sane or even alive right now. How in Gwyn's name are you still alive?"

"Wait, you know Gwyn?" The knight asks in shock. The other three immediately focus their attention on the sword that apparently knows the God of Sunlight from Artorias' world. The shopkeeper just stares at the entire exchange in confusion.

"Of course I do! He's….. he's….. um…. Ah balls, I can't remember!" (Ah, gotta love those plot twists.)

"What? How can you not remember?"

"Hey, I'm over a thousand years old, cut me some slack. This rust isn't just for show you know."

'_**Oh right, now that's just convenient. He just 'suddenly doesn't remember'.' **_The inner Manus grumbles in Artorias' head.

"Hey, shut it ugly!" Derflinger suddenly shouts in annoyance. The three girls stare at him in confusion, Artorias suddenly gaining a shocked expression.

'…_**Wait, the rusty old piece of crap can hear me?'**_

"And see you too! And who the hell are you calling a rusty old piece of crap!?"

Louise stares at the blade in utter confusion. "Who are you talking to?"

"Who am I talking to!? How can you not see the huge-ass monster standing right behind the big guy!?"

The three girls turn their heads to Artorias, who had a very nervous expression on his face. Louise narrows her eyes suspiciously. "Artorias, is there something you would like to tell us?"

'_**Oh boy, busted.'**_

Artorias groans and massages his temples before taking Derflinger gently out of Tabitha's hands and putting him on the counter, on top of the serrated greatsword. "I promise I will explain back at the academy. But first, how much for this guy?"

"Him? Just take him. Think of it as a small bonus for purchasing a prototype blade." The old man says with a hearty smile. "It's the least I can do since you're taking the annoying bastard away.

Louise gingerly gives the 250 gold coins to the shopkeeper before following Artorias out the door, Tabitha and Kirche trailing after her. The knight had strapped the serrated sword to his back and had his hand around Derflinger, who was in his sheath.

"…..Well….. This is kinda awkward. Who wants to hear a dirty joke?" Derflinger pipes up to break some of the tension in the air.

"Ooh, me, me! I want to hear a dirty joke!" Kirche suddenly brightens up, causing Tabitha to sigh. Louise stares at the busty redhead before shaking her own head with a small grin on her face.

"Alright, let's hear it." The pinkette says. She didn't want the trip back to be a quiet one.

"Okay, so a soldier and a farmer girl walk into a bar-"

#later, at the academy#

"-and then the woodsman said 'Girl, you make my grass weed grow into a redwood, if you know what I mean'!"

"Pfft, oh Founder that's funny and arousing at the same time!" Kirche howls in laughter. For the entire duration of the trip from the shop and back to Louise's room, it has been a marathon of nonstop dirty jokes from this year's to last decade's.

"Eww." Louise says squeamishly as she enters her room. She sits down on her bed, crosses her legs in an elegant looking pose and crosses her arms over each other. She looks at Artorias in the eye, a serious expression on her face. "Explain."

It was a command, one that Artorias had to obey. The knight sighed and closed the door behind him as everyone else got seated.

"Well you see… after I lost control when I fought Guiche, I went into the forest to cool my head. On my way out, I heard a voice. That voice was an inner demon that I developed, due to being inflicted with Manus' curse. He is a manifestation of Manus' power over the abyss and he awoke when I lost control in my current state as a familiar. He is the source of my insanity. One that I cannot get rid of, much to my chagrin."

'_**Aww, I love you too.'**_

"But then how come you haven't lost control in any of the other duels?" Kirche asks in confusion.

"Despite his dark existence, he has been slightly helpful in letting me gain control of my powers over the abyss. I have learnt how to vent my emotions and control myself, so I will never let myself go berserk again."

"Powers over the abyss? If you have powers over the abyss, how come we never see you use it?" Louise asks with a quizzical and worried expression.

"Wait, you have powers over that darkness and you don't even use it?" Derflinger asks in shock. "You do realize that if you don't use it a few times in a fight, its gonna pile up in your soul and then burst into a storm of darkness and drive you nuts again?

Artorias closes his eyes with a scowl and tries to picture himself glaring at his inner Manus. "No, I was not informed of that by him."

"_**Hey, we all have our secrets."**_

Artorias sighs and stares at Derflinger. "You can see what he looks like. How?"

"Well it's kinda hard to explain. I don't exactly 'see' but 'sense' things around me. I can sense what this room looks like, what you all look like and I can see your souls. For example, little Tabby over there has a nice and calm soul, colored a bit green and blue to show that she is a master of ice and wind magic. And really damn good at it too. She should be a squa-"

Tabitha throws her book at Derflinger, who gets the hint and moves on.

"Then Kirche's soul is a bit bigger than Tabby's and is really warm and red, like a fire you light in the fireplace on a cold winter's night."

"Oh this sword knows how to push my buttons… I think I can come up with a few other uses for him…" Kirche says seductively, causing Louise to shudder and Tabitha to scoot away from the tanned girl.

"And then we have shorty's soul-"

"HEY!"

"-which is about the size of her eyeball and is completely blank white."

Louise stares at the sword in irritation. "What do you mean my soul is blank? Tabitha's is green and blue like wind and water, Kirche's is red like fire, what's mine supposed to be!?"

"Well, I can't be too sure of that. It seems to me that you don't really have an elemental alignment yet. No wonder it's so damn tiny, much like your stature." Derflinger states bluntly before getting back to the point, completely ignoring the death glare Louise was sending him. "Anyhow, Arty's here is about the size of dragon egg (Those things are roughly the size of what? A basketball?) And is a dark purple color with pure black streams of darkness streaming off it. The darkness is digging deep into his soul but not completely, as there is a tiny white orb in the center. There's a black chain wrapped around the soul, and the other end leads to big and ugly over here, standing in front of the wardrobe."

Everybody turns their heads towards the wardrobe, though nothing is there.

'_**Yeah, this is kind of disturbing.'**_

"I'll tell you what's disturbing! Your face! How can you have so many damn eyes!?" Derflinger shouts at the invisible being.

"So you can see what this…. Inner demon looks like?" Louise asks Derflinger with narrowed eyes.

"Yep. He's huge, bigger than a bear, he's got huge hands like an ape and is covered in black fur, his face is blank and has sharp teeth and he's got these huge antler looking things on his head. He's got half a dozen red eyes on those damn antlers instead of his face. Oh look, he's got a tail too."

"Nightmare fuel." Tabitha states bluntly.

'_**HEY! That's rude!'**_

'Ooh look, now he's pissed!' Derflinger laughs as the inner Manus shakes its fist at Tabitha. Everybody's attention is bought when Louise clears her throat.

"Since you can see this creature, can you perhaps cut him off from Artorias somehow?"

"What? Hell no. those chains are dug in real deep, they're practically part of his soul now. Cutting them off would leave Arty with no way to channel the darkness. He'd go nuts and never come back if I cut those chains. He's stuck with the monkey."

Artorias groans and sits down on his bed, which is right next to Louise's. "As if this day could get any worse."

*BOOM*

The ground shakes as something crashes into a part of the school. Something big.

'_**Wow, nice jinx wolf boy.'**_

'_Shut up.'_

#a minute or less later#

There was talk of a thief in Tristain. One who steals from nobles in an attempt to shame them. This thief is known to be an earth mage and wears a black cloak. It is also said that he is a disgraced noble. They call him Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt.

What they DON'T know is that 'he' is actually a 'she'.

Fouquet is currently sitting atop her extremely large earth golem, which is currently pounding away at a certain tower in the school. This tower contains the vault, a large magically locked room that contains various rare magical artifacts. One of which is the thief's target.

"Hmm, I must give these teachers credit. This tower is better reinforced than I thought."

"Indeed, tis a shame you won't be able to see its contents."

The green haired thief turns her head towards a peculiar sight. A handsome man with black hair and eyes the same color of the sky was standing a few meters away, an extremely large greatsword on his back and a sheathed broadsword in his right hand. A trio of girls were standing behind him, each one brandishing a wand, though the pink haired girl's hand was shaking a bit.

"Oho, so this place has a guard? Where's your armor, surely you don't intend on battling me with those clothes do you?"

"I have no need for armor when I am battling an enemy who does not wear armor either." Artorias replies coolly, a serious expression on his face. Fouquet chuckles at this.

"Oh, but I have a golem with me. I have no need for armor when I have a large weapon like this."

"And I have a large weapon as well. Your point?" The knight says as he passes Derflinger to Louise and wraps his right hand around his new weapon.

"Mine is bigger." Fouquet counters with a small scowl.

"Pfft, that's what he said!" Derflinger guwaffed in his sheath. Thankfully, Fouquet did not notice. Instead, she smiled evilly and raised her wand brandishing hand and commanded the golem to turn towards them and punch at them.

The three girls jump away from where they were standing, shocked to see that Artorias hadn't moved an inch. Instead he simply pulled his greatsword off his back….

And blocked the punch head on.

The altered Gandalfr runes begin to flare as Artorias puts his whole weight and more behind his makeshift shield as the blade begins to develop glowing blue markings on it. The fist of stone and gravel managed to push the knight back a few meters, but he was otherwise unharmed.

Fouquet stared at Artorias with a look of bewilderment before commanding her golem mentally once again to smash both its fists onto the knight. Artorias holds his blade to the side as he quickly does a large sidestep and begins to sprint towards the golem's main body.

'It's basically the same principal as when I fought Guiche, even if I was under the influence of the abyss. I just need to run up the main body and either decapitate it or restrain the one controlling it. The latter seems more likely during this situation.' The knight planned mentally before jumping over a side swing from the golem, successfully landing on its right arm.

"Grh, get off!" The green haired thief shouts as she uses her magic to produce javelins of stone and sends them flying at the knight. However, the javelins were thrown off course by a longshot when a number of small fireballs and a large blast of wind smashes into them. Fouquet turns her head to see Kirche and Tabitha with their wands aimed.

'Damn it, I forgot about those two-wait, weren't there three?'

"Explosion!"

With that command, the unexpected happened. Normally, what Louise was expecting was a large fireball of sorts. Instead, a huge explosion happened, but without fire. Like a disintegrating bomb just went off, taking out not only the entire right shoulder and right leg of the golem, but also creating an extremely large hole in the damn tower. Fouquet glares at the pinkette who stood panting a few feet away, until noticing that the vault was practically open for her.

"Not exactly how I planned but oh well!" With that exclamation, Fouquet jumps off her golem and into the vault.

Artorias was running across the right arm of the golem, but the explosion took the golem's right shoulder and thus causing the arm to fall off, Artorias with it. With quick thinking, the knight kicked off the arm and grabbed onto a ledge on the tower. Noticing Fouquet enter the vault, he dropped down and landed in the hole. His greatsword held ready, he charge right in after Fouquet, finding her holding a really long box of sorts.

"Thief, put the box down and surrender. If you do, I can make sure that you will be tried in court instead of executed on the spot."

The thief's features warp into one of disgust and anger. "Trial? Court? Those things are corrupt in this damn country, in this damn kingdom! Nobles greasing palms with their vile hands, judges who couldn't care less about the common folk and soldiers who abuse their status by violating the rights of others! There is no justice in this kingdom sir knight. Not for me, nor for you."

With that final word, Fouquet sunk into the ground, her body completely going through before Artorias could grab her.

"Izalith damn it!"

#next day, principal's office#

Osmond's office was brimming with chatter. Teachers were arguing and gossiping about the recent theft and most where griping about it.

Apparently, the artefact that was stolen last night was something called the Staff of Destruction. Whatever it was, Artorias knew it was obviously dangerous if its name had any merit.

Artorias, Louise, Tabitha and of course Kirche were currently present in the room, despite the knight's increasing discomfort at how poorly the teachers were handling this. The only ones who were reasonably calm were Old Osmond and Professor Colbert.

"AGH, who the hell was supposed to be on duty last night anyway!?" one of the teacher's shouts in irritation before tensing in realization and pointing at Miss Chevreuse. "Hang on, you were supposed to be on guard duty last night! What were you doing, sleeping on the job!?"

"I-I-I'm sorr-"

"Sorry!? Thanks to you, the goddamned Staff of Destruction was stolen!" The teacher interrupted in anger.

"That's enough! The poor woman obviously regrets not standing guard last night, yelling at her won't solve anything! It isn't like all of you other teachers are always vigilant on your nightshifts." Artorias says as he steps between the now surprised Miss Chevreuse and the angry teacher.

"What do you know!? And who the hell are you supposed to be!?"

"I'm the one who will bash your damned head in if you don't back off!" Artorias replied with his now famous 'ghost glare'.

Let me explain; the 'ghost glare' is the nickname the students gave Artorias' glare when he is extremely angry. The reason why it's called 'ghost glare' is due to how his sky blue eyes glow like the eyes of a phantom. He has only used the 'ghost glare' three times. First was when he arrived into the classroom after Louise failed another explosion and he got pissed at all the students who mocked her.

The second time was when a random student got caught by him trying to sneak a peek into the girls' bathroom (Hey, knight of honor. He's not gonna let anyone sully the honor of a woman.).

The third time was right now, as the offending teacher backed off slowly in intense fear. Artorias turned his head towards Miss Chevreuse and smiled kindly at her, causing the woman to blush, before turning his head to Old Osmond, who was in the process of clearing his throat.

"Now then, as you know, the Staff of Destruction has been stolen. And from what we have gathered from our witnesses here and from this note left behind, we can only assume that it was Fouquet the crumbling dirt."

"Is she well known?" The knight of Gwyn asked the bearded principal who nodded.

"Indeed, he is very famous for stealing from nobles and-hang on, did you just say 'she'?" Osmond asks in surprise, the rest of the teachers turning their gaze upon Artorias in interest.

"Well, she spoke to me last night and I believe it was the voice of a woman. That and despite her large cloak, I could make out some feminine features that belong to no man."

"Can you tell what her three sizes were?" Osmond asked with a glint in his eye. Professor Colbert cleared his throat, snapping the old man out of his perverted reverie.

"S-sorry, I was getting off track. Hmm, usually Miss Longueville would have hit me with her shoe or something when I make a comment like that. Where is she Colby?" Osmond asked the professor as he stroked his magnificent beard. The bald teacher simply shrugged in response.

"I haven't seen her since yesterday-"He was interrupted by a quick knock on the door. Immediately after the knocking, a person rushed in, revealing it to be none other than the green haired secretary herself.

"Ah, there you are Miss Longueville! Where have you been?" Osmond asked as he mentally commanded his familiar to sneak under Longueville's skirt.

"My apologies sir, I was investigating. I woke up to all this commotion about a thief so I began a small investigation. I am proud to say that I have managed to discern the thief's location."

Longueville begins to explain how she came across the information, no doubt impressing Osmond and the rest of the teachers immensely for her hard work. Our favorite knight of Gwyn on the other hand….

'_**I don't know about you, but that seems too convenient. And doesn't she sound a lot like the thief bitch from last night?'**_

'Actually, you could be right, as much as I hate to admit.'

'_**See, I AM useful!'**_

Osmond strokes his beard in thought at this arrival of new information. "We must retrieve the staff immediately. If we call for the Imperial Court, Fouquet will have escaped with the staff by the time they arrive. I need volunteers for a search team to find Fouquet and the staff!"

Unsurprisingly, none of the teachers raised their hands. None of them really had the skill or the guts to take on a thief who was at least a triangle class mage.

"Louise, you're too short for them to see you."

"ARGH, look over here damn it!"

Osmond's eyes drift over to the short pinkette who had her hand raised as high as her small body could raise it.

"Miss Valliere? Are you sure you wish to partake on this mission?"

"She won't be alone."

Artorias steps right next to Louise and she puffs out her nonexistent chest in pride that her familiar would join her so quickly. To her surprise, Tabitha raises her hand as well.

"Worried." Was all the blue haired girl said to Louise before turning her gaze back to Osmond.

"Well if these three are in then so am I!" Kirche joined in as she wrapped her arms around Louise and Tabitha respectively. Osmond hummed in amusement at the group. It was refreshing to see such friendship between them.

He was definitely not trying to stare at Kirche's bountiful bosom.

"Well then, I shouldn't be too worried about you all. Especially if you have sir Artorias on your side then Fouquet won't stand a chance."

All the teachers, except Colbert, stared at Osmond in amazement. "Sir, is this one man really that powerful?" A female teacher asked.

"Powerful? I haven't tested him in battle myself but he'd probably give me a run for my money!"

Most of the teachers visibly sagged at this, with the exception of Colbert. He knew exactly how powerful the old man really was.

They say you get weaker as you get much older but whoever said that has never met Osmond.

Or Heihachi from Tekken.

Or Yamamoto from Bleach.

Indeed, you can tell that an old man is very strong just by looking at his beard. The more magnificent it looks, the tougher he is.

"I shall accompany them so I may direct them to Fouquet's hiding place." Longueville said before walking out the door, the newly formed search party following behind her. As soon as they've left the room, the rest of the teachers return to their posts. The only ones in the room were Colbert and Osmond.

"Sir, did you really mean it when you said that sir Artorias would give you a run for your money?" The bald teacher asked with a somewhat nervous tone. Osmond's face took on a jovial expression as he took a puff from his now lit pipe.

"Well, I'd put up one hell of a fight first. But if we did fight each other at full strength then I'd say the surrounding area of the battlefield will be nothing but rubble by the time we're done.

#minutes later#

The search party was currently riding in the back seat of a small carriage, Longueville handling the reins of the horse. Thankfully, the carriage was roofless, so Artorias didn't have to get uncomfortable due to his height.

"Miss Longueville, why are you driving the carriage anyway? Wouldn't it be easier to just hire a commoner to do it?" Kirche asked curiously to the bespectacled secretary, whom merely smiled with a small chuckle.

"Its fine, I prefer handling the carriage my way. Besides, I am a commoner. Or, at least I'm not a noble. Not anymore."

'**Hmm, now why does that sound familiar? Hah! I made a pun!' **The inner Manus barked in laughter.

'Alright, I get the point. I'll keep an eye on her.' Artorias grumbled to the pestering inner demon as the Germanian redhead began to pester Longueville for the details on how she lost her status.

"Kirche, it's rude to pester people about a past that they'd rather forget." Louise scolded Kirche, who responded by pouting and crossing her arms under her breasts, emphasizing their size.

This was obviously done on purpose, as Louise begins to grind her teeth together in envy.

"Hey, cheer up shorty! You'll hit your growth spurt once you hit puberty!" Derflinger chirped up from his sheath that hung from Louise's hip. Artorias gave him to her in case she needs to defend herself, as her magic is not always reliable.

"I'M SIXTEEN YEARS OLD DAMN IT!" The angry pinkette all but shrieked at the blade.

"Wait, really!?" Derflinger and Artorias exclaimed in shock. An angered howl from a frustrated loli was the reply they got.

Tabitha simply watched them with a mild amount of amusement, her face set in its usual blank stare. It was rather comical seeing an incredibly small girl angrily beat her fists on Artorias chest for thinking she was a lot younger than she actually was.

"I have to agree with Miss Zerbst though, I am also curious about the on how madam Longueville lost her nobility." Artorias says as he tries to pry his master off him, causing Longueville to raise an eyebrow in amusement.

"Oho? Is the knight curious about my sad, sad tale? It's nothing special you know, just the usual story of family, death, deceit and all the usual fallen noble themes."

"Deceit? You mean to say that you lost your status under false charges?" The sky blue eyed knight asked. Now everybody's attention was drawn towards Longueville.

"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. It was a long time ago…" The green haired secretary trails off as she watches the road in front of her.

"Please tell us, if you were disgraced out of false charges then it could be possible for you to regain your status! Right master?"

"A-ahm, yes! If you had proof and maybe some back up from well-known noble families then yes, you could regain your status."

Longueville tensed at this. This might have been a good chance to take advantage of the goodhearted idiots and make things go the way he wanted for once. She'd be a noble. And a certain relative of hers would be safe. Safer than she already was.

'No…' She shook her head. 'Even if it worked, Reconquista would hunt me down or announce me as a member publicly. I have to get this job over with fast.' She thought as she turned her head towards her passengers. "As kind as your offer was, I'm afraid I have to decline. I am quite happy with my life as it is."

That was a lie of course. She hasn't been genuinely happy for years.

Slowly, the carriage enters a clearing in the forest road they took. Right in the middle of the clearing was a small house.

In fact, it was more of a shack than a house.

The group descended from the carriage and began to plan their attack.

"Ambushing her might be a good idea. We can grab the staff quietly and then bombard her with our best spells. You can even do that fancy explosion you did Louise!" Kirche chirped up as she drew a picture of the shack in the ground with a stick, a number of circles representing each of themselves around it.

"I-it wasn't that great…" Louise mumbled out meekly. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned her head to see that it was Tabitha's.

"Strong."

That one word was all she needed to get motivation.

"But first, we need to get the staff. We'll probably need somebody to sneak there…" Kirche began to ponder. Artorias himself began to ponder if he could sprint there quietly. In a situation like this, Ciaran could probably steal the staff AND slit Fouquet's throat at the same time.

Unless his inner Manus was right and Longueville herself was Fouquet.

Speaking of the inner Manus…

'**Hey, you should go sneak to the shack!'**

'I can't sneak. I'll make too much noise!'

'**Peh, wimp. Fine then, I'll do it!'**

Without another word, something interesting happened.

Artorias and the ground under him began to take on a shadowy hue and the he suddenly sunk into the darkness and vanished. Before anybody had a chance to freak out, he resurfaced out of another shadowy portal, right next to the shack. He sits there with a blank expression before suddenly snapping back to reality and realizing what just happened.

'Wh-what in Gwyn's name did you just do!?'

'**Like it? I call it 'Abysswalking mark 2'! You move around just as silently as your girlfriend now! Especially if it's in a dark place like this! '**

'W-wow… thanks I guess. That could be very useful.'

'**Heh, you gotta live up to your title after all don't ya, Abysswalker?'**

Artorias did not answer and instead looked at his master and the others. All had expressions that said one thing.

'_What the hell just happened?'_

Nodding to them, he peeks through a window and peers inside. It was dark, but he had long since been able to see in darkness. He had to if he wanted to navigate his way through the abyss after all.

The shack was empty, the only things inside that were in his line of vision were a bed, a desk and chair, an unlit candle that was already melted to the base and last but not least, the long rectangular box with the staff in it.

The knight waved at the group to signal that it was safe. They began to walk to the shack and reached it just as Artorias opened the door. Or, he tried to. It was locked shut.

"Damn, we need to unlock it. Anybody got a lock pick or-"Kirche was cut off when Artorias lifted his right leg and promptly kicked the door open.

I use the word 'open' loosely here. In reality, the door didn't so much 'open' but more of 'got blasted off its hinges'.

With Longueville staying outside to stand watch, they entered the shack with their wands drawn (Artorias putting a hand on his saw blade) in case Fouquet was hiding somewhere inside. Looking around until they were convinced it was safe, the moved to the box with the staff of destruction and Artorias picked it up.

"This staff better have been worth all the trouble." Kirche said as they walked outside. Longueville eyed the box for a while as she tried to think of a way to get it out of the knight's hands.

"Say, what does the staff look like anyway? I've only ever heard about it from Professor Colbert." The redheaded girl asked as she took a look at the box. The other girls shrugged, increasing her curiosity.

"I suppose it would be a good idea to look at what it is we have been trying to retrieve." Artorias said as he used his hands to break open the lock on the box and opening it up.

Its contents made him widen his eyes considerably.

"I-it can't be!" the knight exclaimed as he took out the 'staff'.

It wasn't a staff at all. It was a spear. Its color was like gold and it was longer than an ordinary person. A few inches below the spears blade was a pair of bars sticking out from the shaft. It had a faint tingling sensation in it. Like electricity. And through the enhanced sense of smell he had, Artorias could make out the faint traces of dragon blood on it.

"Artorias, do you recognize the staff?" Louise asks the knight with a confused expression. He nodded with a grim look set upon his features.

"This is no staff. It is the weapon that became a legend in Lordran through sweat, blood and tears. It was forged by a giant specifically to be able to channel electricity through it. A personal weapon made for my friend and captain."

Everybody's eyes widen at this, as Artorias lifts the spear and plants the bottom of the weapon into the ground.

"This is the spear of Dragon Slayer Ornstein, captain of the 4 Knights of Gwyn. My rival and battle brother."

#Lordran, Undead Parish, Andrei's room again#

"Girl, ye need a new hobby. Sharpening yer knives when they are already perfectly sharp enough is just wastin' time and effort. Ye need some fresh air or somethin'." Andrei said as he put another freshly made blade into a bucket of cold water, grinning as he hears it sizzle. Best part of smithing to him is to hear the water sizzle. The louder the siz, the better the blade.

"I have nothing else to do. Lately, the boy has been practicing more on archery ever since Gough gave him a smaller version of his own greatbow. I would be surprised that he could even operate it but after the things I've seen, I just can't be surprised anymore." Ciaran replied off handedly as she continued sharpening her silver tracer.

"Hrmph. Solaire, ye agree with me dontcha?" Andrei asked to the son of Gwyn.

The knight of Sunlight simply turns his head towards the assassin and raises a hand as he prepares to speak.

"Milady-"

"Shut up."

"Yes ma'am."

Eh, so much for that.

Ciaran has been in a foul mood for a while. She still has not gotten over Artorias' death and she is still sore about many things strange and unexpected in her life that the Chosen Undead seems to be involved with.

Leaving Sif in that old timeline, due to the Chosen Undead saying 'He needs to stay or I I will never find a way here in the future.'

The chance of Frampt being a liar.

Solaire being the long lost firstborn son of Gwyn and the boy's first mentor.

The fact that Ornstein was killed by the Chosen Undead in an act of self-defense.

'God, the boy looked absolutely dreadful when he told us about killing captain Ornstein. It must be tough being forced to kill one of your idols.'

Indeed the Chosen Undead was an enigma in this world. He simply knew too much. He uses unconventional ways in battle and to get over obstacles such as climbing walls, intimidation and using distractions to direct their attention elsewhere with the use of taunts or ridiculous stunts like cartwheeling to get a titanite demons attention.

His powers are also ridiculously diverse. One moment he's hurling chaos fireballs at an adult mushroom being, the next he's flinging lightning spears at another one. He was apparently a warrior of sunlight at some point before joining the chaos covenant out of pity.

That was what confused her the most. Pity? Who in Izalith joins the CHAOS covenant out of pity?

Though it was understandable, after hearing the backstory of Quelaan, the white spider.

But it was still incredibly strange.

"Ciaran!"

The assassin turns her head towards the new occupant of the room, who was none other than Gough.

Now, of course Gough shouldn't be able to fit in the room due to his humongous size. However, he is currently the same size as Black Iron Tarkus. How is that you ask?

Apparently, the ring known as the Tiny Being's ring has a special effect on those with giant blood. Normally, it gives you a slight boost in health. But for giants, it reduces their size considerably.

Gwyn knows why the ring does this.

Anyhow, back to the point.

"I can't believe it but we finally found him!"

"Who? Artorias?" Ciaran asked hopefully. To her despair, Gough shook his head sadly.

"No… but someone who misses him just as much as you do. Come here."

The blind archer practically dragged Ciaran into the large room where a titanite demon used to be.

The first thing that Ciaran saw was something big and black. In fact, she could feel warm air coming out from two holes on it.

Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was a nose. Half a minute later, the nose started to sniff her and then a huge tongue appeared from a maw and licked her, covering her entire armor in saliva. She backs away slowly and focuses on the huge being that was currently laying on its belly before her.

"…S-Sif?"

The once small, now gargantuan wolf barked loudly in response. Ciaran began to feel her eyes moisten as tears threaten to fall. She notices that the Chosen Undead was sitting on top of Sif's back, waving jovially.

"Hey, I found a puppy! Can we keep him?" He asked jokingly as he stroked the giant wolf's back. Ciaran replied by running straight towards Sif and jumping at his neck, hugging the wolf's body tightly as tears trailed from her eyes under the mask. Sif bent his head down so he could nuzzle Ciaran.

This sight is enough to make Gough, Solaire and Andrei shed manly tears at this happy reunion. Sif whined a bit as he nuzzled Ciaran closer.

"I know…. I miss him too…" She said as she stroked Sif's fur, the wolf licking her again to show his appreciation.

That night, Ciaran slept with a smile on her face for the first time since arriving at present Lordran.

**Whoo! That one took ages. Sorry about that guys, my life is getting tough. No need to worry about me, I do not deserve your pity!**

**Now then, I will now ramble. Some of this is important so pay at least a medium amount of attention.**

**First of all, about the 'Inner Manus' inside of Artorias. Is he like an inner hollow? In a way, yes, but at the same time no. He WILL try to annoy Artorias and irritate him as much as possible but in the end, neither of them can survive without each other. Which is why the Inner Manus is essential in this story, so Artorias can be taught how to use his abyss powers properly. If he doesn't, it will overwhelm him and eat his soul. This will not benefit the Inner Manus, as he is tied to Arty's soul. One dies, both die.**

**Hence, I will not get rid of him and expect to see him as a recurring character. **

**Now then the next item on the list is about a couple of flamers that I got recently who posted comments about this fic being shit without giving a good reason. **

**My response to them is as the follows. Tarkus, if you will?**

**Black Iron Tarkus: With pleasure! Ahem, TO IZALITH WITH THE LOT OF YOU FLAMERS!**

**Thank you.**

**Also, I wish to give my appreciation to a certain elite knight who stood up for me twice in a row. I really appreciate that. There are only a handful of reviewers that would stand up for an author like that and they are people who have good hearts. Thank you. You're one of a kind.**

**Next item is about Artorias' past. I had to make up practically all of it since Dark Souls gives minimum amounts of background info on the characters. Not even an encyclopedia we can buy in the game or something. So, I hope you liked the tale of how the foolhardy silver knight became the legend he is today, and his first encounter with Ciaran. It started off with her being his 'senpai' and ended with him being the one who teases her when they flirt with each other. How cute.**

**Next item, the tiny being's ring. Not a word. I do not want to hear a complaint about it, unless you have a better idea on how I can reduce Gough's size. For fucks sake, HE'S HUGE! THAT GUY IS BIG ENOUGH TO WRESTLE MANUS!**

**Now, the next item (This is a long list.) is about the Chosen Undead and his background. I'm sure some of you might have figured out how he knows more about the world than he should. PM me if you figured it out, and PLEASE do not put the answer in a review. That would spoil it. It is good fanfic material though…. I should probably write it when I'm done with this one.**

**Which may be not for a while. A long while.**

**And then there's Fate/DEUS to deal with.**

***sigh* I hope I don't die before finishing these fics, otherwise I will never be able to face other fanfic writers in heaven.**

**Or, since I'm bound to my master in body and soul, in hell.**

**With her lifestyle, she's probably going to hell and by Gwyn, I'm probably going in the pit with her. Eep.**

**Ahem, back to the point. My Chosen Undead is based on my character when I played Dark Souls. I actually do wear that unusual set of armor, simply because I thought it was cool and because I wanted to make a hybrid set of armor. After a while of playing, I got attached to that particular ensemble.**

**And yes, he is a Chaos Servant. I did make him join the covenant out of pity. Quelaan's story is so sad. I regret killing Quelaga since she was most likely just trying to protect her sister.**

**If you get all the background info on bosses, you will eventually regret killing them. Quelaga, Sif, Artorias, Pinwheel, hell even Manus. Watch VaatiVidya's videos if you want to take a ride on the guilt train for Dark Souls.**

**Next and last item is actually a question I have about Old Osmond. How strong is he? Do they ever reveal his strength in the ZNT manga, light novel or anime? I'm really curious. Is he a weak old man with a lot of bluff, or is he secretly a square class mage? Who knows? And I'm too lazy to check the wiki. **

**Especially since the last time I tried checking it, there was incomplete data. Loads of it. And the internet is acting up a lot so I only use it to read fanfic now.**

**Well, that's about it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Special for today, Black Iron Tarkus will be saying the goodbyes while I go to sleep since it is 2:00 AM where I am and I am typing this without master knowing I'm still awak-**

***door opens***

**Oh shit, its her. Hi master, just finishing up my fic since I wasn't sleepy! *nervous laughter***

…**.W-why do you have handcuffs and a whip? A-are you wearing leather?**

…**..Oh sweet Andraste, no no no wait a moment master! I'm not into that kind of play-*knocked out by a kick to the face* **

**Master: Not yet you're not. Fufufufu…*drags Sakurada away***

**Black Iron Tarkus: …Let's just pretend you did not see that. I wish I didn't. Now then, good night to all you fanfic readers! Go to sleep and if you can't then go out for a walk or flip a golem for fun! That's what I do when I can't sleep!**


End file.
